Friends Before Love
by TrackRunner73
Summary: Annabeth has had a crush on Percy ever since she was twelve years old. By the time she gets the courage to ask him out though, he's dating her best friend.AU Perlia, Thalico, and Percabeth.
1. Chapter 1

**Without further ado, I give you my new story, Friends Before Love.**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"Hey Thalia," I greeted my best friend as I took a seat next to her in Science class. She was wearing a tattered army jacket over an _Atreyu_ t-shirt along with black jeans and a chain hanging from them. Most people are frightened by her from a first look, but I've been best friends with her since we were like five.

She looked up from her desk and nodded to me in recognition, "Hey. So, here's the start of another hellish school year."

I shrugged, "Maybe something exciting will happen this year."

Thalia rolled her eyes, "You always were the more optimistic one of us. Anyway, have you seen Percy?"

"Nah, but he's usually running late."

As I guessed, Percy came in just as the bell went off. He was dressed in a navy t-shirt, light jeans, and sneakers that he didn't even have the time to tie. I laughed mentally; he was such a goofball. Secretly, I loved that about him. Yes, I'm that girl who has had a crush on a guy for so many years but hasn't told him. It's not what you may think though. By the time I got the guts last year, I was too late. He was already taken.

He came and sat behind Thalia, "Hey ladies."

We both replied a quick 'hi'. Then Percy leaned forward in his chair and he and Thalia gave each other a peck on the cheek. Did I mention that he had been taken by my best friend? I guess I didn't. Anyway, it's not like Thalia knew though, I hadn't even told her. Besides, we were all friends beforehand along with a few other people. I can't blame anyone, but that doesn't make the situation suck any less.

Throughout the class, Thalia and Percy were passing notes back and forth. They had gotten about three quarters of the way through the period until Thalia got caught because Percy clumsily dropped the note and she went to catch it.

"Ms. Grace," my teacher, Ms. Demaray called her out. I saw her clench her teeth at her last name. She hated it so much because she despised being related to her mother, "Please hand over the note. I believe the rest of the class would love to hear what you have written."

Thalia walked up to the front of the class and just before Ms. Demaray took the note, she pulled it back away, "Actually, I don't think you have the right to read my personal messages."

Many students in the class sniggered. Thalia never really censored what she said to teachers, even if it was the first day of school.

Our teacher simply pointed to the door, "To the principal's office, Ms. Grace." Ms. Demaray had Thalia last year as well, so she was not at all shocked that she was already sending her to the principal's office.

Being totally used to getting sent there, she simply shrugged and walked out of the door. When there was only five minutes of class left, our teacher let us just chill and talk to our friends.

Percy spun in his seat to face me, "How were your last couple days of summer?"

"I was grounded," I pointed out, "Remember?"

He held his hands up defensively, "I remember, but you never did tell me why you were grounded."

I sighed, "My brothers left one of their toys on the middle of the floor in my room, which I of course tripped on and broke. They threw a fit over it and my parents overreacted."

"That's dumb," he stated and I nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't Thalia read what the note said?" I asked curiously, "She's not one to care what people think of her."

He laughed, "It was only asking me if I was around after school, but she hates nosy people. She probably just wanted to tick the teacher off."

"Anyway," I said, "If you both are around after school today the rest of us were going to go to the mall. You're both welcome to join us."

Even though I wasn't looking forward to wandering the mall while they had their arms around each other, I still decided it would be better to invite them. Because A) It probably covers my jealousy better and B) The rest of our friends will be there anyway.

"That sounds great," he told me, "We'll meet you guys there."

Speaking of the rest of our friends, I went out into the hallway after the bell rang to find Nico di Angelo. Before I could ask what was up, I caught him staring at Thalia who was coming out if the principal's office. I'm not alone with disliking the fact that Percy and Thalia are together. Nico liked Thalia and I was the only one who knew. After he had confessed that to me, I had told him I liked Percy. So at least we were suffering together.

"Staring at her again?" I quipped as I went up to him.

"Oh, like you weren't gawking at Percy as he came in today," he snapped. There was a silence between us where I wanted to punch him for that remark until he sighed, "Sorry, that was kind of low."

I bit my lip, "Yeah. It's okay though."

We watched as Percy went up to Thalia and gave her a hug before they parted for their next class.

"Emotions suck," Nico grumbled.

"Amen," I replied as we began making our way to Algebra Two together. "Are you going to the mall after school?"

He nodded, "I am, but I'll probably be avoiding them the entire time. As happy as I am for them, I can't help but want to just deck him and kiss her whenever I see them together."

Nico's friends with Percy, but he's not as close with him as I am with Thalia so he would definitely deck him. Also, Nico's one for grudges so I doubt he's going to get over the fact they're together anytime soon. Neither of us will. I've had a crush on the guy for _five freaking years_. Shouldn't that mean _something_? Fate? Destiny? Any of that other crap? 

"I know the feeling," I assured him as we sat down in our seats.

**Love it? Hate it? Either way, please review. Even I wasn't a huge fan of this chapter, but give this story a chance because, trust me, it gets **_**way**_** better.**

**Anyway, I have a little fun fact about this story. I actually got this idea because my best friend thought I had a crush on her boyfriend (even though I'm strictly friends with the guy), and she didn't even tell me she thought that to my face. I had to find out through my other friends. We're fine now, but I just twisted that situation and got the story idea. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter. I was exceedingly surprised and happy that I got twenty-one reviews for my first chapter. And in response to some of your reviews:**

**BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****: I'm glad I didn't disappoint you too much with this story even though you originally didn't like it.**

**storyteller1425****: I'm not sure if I should take your hate for Perlia as criticism or a compliment, but thank you anyway. As for your questions: Annabeth has known Percy since they were like ten and she has been best friends with him, but she's closer to Thalia.**

**Pentiva- Hestia's Twin****: They are not demigods in this story and the people who died are back to life.**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Nico POV**

Have you ever really wanted to stab your eyes out at the sight of something? Maybe it was your parents kissing or seeing your teacher at a water park. Bottom line, I had to spend the entire time at the mall like that. To be fair, Percy and Thalia weren't like making out or anything, but since I like her they might as well have been. The only reason I even went was because I didn't want to leave Annabeth to suffer in solitude. At least Beckendorf, Silena, the Stoll brothers and Katie Gardner came with us so we weren't completely alone with them.

It was kind of awkward for Annabeth and I since almost everyone else was a couple. You already know Percy and Thalia are together. Beckendorf and Silena had been going out for a good eight months. And all of us know that Katie and Travis need to just make out and get together already. Connor probably should've felt a little awkward too, but he just isn't an awkward person.

"Why are we going to Abercrombie?" Connor complained. Though he is a whining person.

"Yeah," Travis agreed, "Their prices are ridiculous. I'm not paying sixty dollars for a pair of jeans."

"But they have good clothes," Silena argued.

"Fine, we'll go," Connor gave in.

Travis nodded, "But I'm not buying anything!"

Only I caught the evil grins they shot each other. We hadn't even been in the mall twenty minutes and they were already going to cause trouble. After a good half an hour of roaming that store, Silena dragged us all toward the dressing rooms to wait for her while she tried on a bunch of different outfits. Eventually Silena came out in her last outfit to which we all grumbled 'It looks great'. Beckendorf was standing next to her and Percy and Thalia were standing in front of an open changing room. Once I noticed each of their locations, I figured out what the Stoll brothers had planned.

While Travis charged toward Silena and Beckendorf, Connor went toward Percy and Thalia. They shoved the couples into the vacant dressing rooms and held the doors shut.

"What the hell?" Percy yelled from behind the door.

"We thought the couples would want some privacy," Connor laughed and my anger began to build. As if my jealousy wasn't already bad enough.

Travis laughed with him, "I guess these are undressing rooms now." It was a pretty bad pun, but he got his joke across. A joke I wanted to kill him for.

My blood was boiling by that point. Taking Travis by the collar of his shirt, I threw him in another empty dressing room along with Katie. Holding the door shut, I kicked open the one Thalia and Percy were. The two of them walked out and Thalia flashed me a smile before chasing Connor out of the store. Just that smile made my heart flip…I'm so pathetic.

About ten minutes later, all of us were scattered throughout the mall. Travis and Katie were chasing me and Percy was chasing Travis, Thalia was chasing Connor, Annabeth was probably helping Percy, and Silena and Beckendorf were probably still making out in that dressing room. Now that I had Travis and Katie chasing me, I went and hid in the last place they'd expect me to be: Build-A-Bear. I hated that place so much, but they would never expect it.

However, an annoying saleswoman came up to me, "Hi, would you like to build a bear?"

Trying to be polite, I replied, "No, thank you. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Are you sure? Everybody could use a favorite furry friend."

"I'm positive."

"Maybe you'd like dog or a turtle instead?"

"Seriously, I'm fine."

"But every animal is built with love and now you can use codes to play with them online. You even get an-"

"I don't care!" I snapped, "I don't want a bear, hippo, Elmo, Hello Kitty or any other creature I can dress in baby clothes!" Geez, I hate how some people just don't back off.

She huffed, "Then leave or I'm calling security."

I got thrown out of Build-A-Bear. _Build-A-Bear_. Wow, I really hit an all-time low.

Anyway, so once I got the hell out of that place I went to the next place they'd least think to find me: Barnes & Noble. As I snuck through rows of books, I saw Connor come charging in. I guess he was thinking the same thing as me. I quickly tried to scurry to a different part of the store, but I ran right into Thalia. She would've fallen from our collision, but I caught her by her waist just before she could hit the ground. I was fighting off a furious blush that was threatening to creep up on my cheeks.

Pulling her back up, she sighed, "Oh, hey Nico. Have you seen Connor?"

I nodded, "I think he went toward the children's section."

"Thanks," she told me and clapped me on the back.

She began to run the other way, but I still wanted to hang with her so I called, "Hey, I helped you twice today. I believe I should get in o beating him up."

Grinning, she nodded toward the children's section, "Alright. Come on."

We each went around different sides and closed in on the shelf he was hiding behind. He was too busy peering over it to notice us coming from the sides. Thalia signaled for me to go and we both tackled him. He fought, but we still ended up sitting on his back to keep him from getting up.

"This is really uncomfortable," he told us. "When can I get up?"

I looked to Thalia for an answer.

She pulled out her phone and started texting, "I'll tell everyone to meet us here and then you can get up."

He struggled again, "That'll take forever though."

I high-fived Thalia, "That's the point."

It was nice to have Thalia as a friend at least even though I wanted to be more. I was just glad it wasn't like one of those overdone movies where the guy isn't even noticed by his crush. If that was the scenario, I would've gone insane. She trusted me enough as a friend though and she doesn't trust easily. I guess that's enough…for now.

**This was a more Thalico-based chapter, but next chapter has some person for those of you looking for it. Also, this chapter was a little random, but I had so much fun writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it. So please review, I love reading them.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for such a long wait, but you can always blame my school board because I don't like them either.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **SoccerGirl8, Alexandra Nightshade, chocolate saucy, storyteller1425, lovemeforever04, HiThereSmiley, Blackhawk1997, Amazing-Anna'beth'1, wisegirl1333, Angel of Darkness1337, CarolinaEirasSa, I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares, Raidersforthewin

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

My step-mom (though I prefer the term step-demon) is by far one of the most neurotic people I know. I was sent to my room because I tried to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. Apparently, she thought it was inappropriate of me to watch a PG-13 movie while my brothers were home because they could walk in at any second. Of course my dad backed her up saying that a pirate movie was far too violent for a child to be exposed to. Last time I checked, Bobby and Matthew are little boys with the attention span of a goldfish who can't sit through a TV show, none the less an entire movie.

So that's how I ended up bored out of my mind on a Friday night. And Bobby and Matthew had scribbled all over the pages of the book I had been reading with Sharpie. Yet they don't get in trouble?

I was looking through some old photos of me and my friends which turned my thoughts to Percy. It seemed that we only kept getting closer, and it was driving me crazy. Even though Percy doesn't like me the same way, sometimes he would make it seem almost as if he did. Like at the mall a few weeks earlier.

_Percy and I were running through the mall, trying to get Travis. Last time we had seen him, he was running through the food court with Katie since they were after Nico. So much for hanging out as a group. Percy was next to me, watching carefully for any sign of him._

"_When are those guys going to grow up?" he grumbled._

_I chuckled, "You shouldn't be talking."_

_He laughed, "Oh, come on. What's the last childish thing I did?"_

"_Two minutes ago you were riding a tricycle in Target."_

_He thought about that for a moment, "You make a good point. But that made you laugh, didn't it?"_

_I grinned, "Childish isn't always bad, the Stolls just take it to an extreme."_

_Nodding, he told me, "And thanks for coming with me to get back at Travis."_

_I shook my head, "It's no problem, and I'm always available to get revenge on those two."_

"_You are really awesome though," he assured me, "It's probably kind of weird for you that your two best friends are dating, but you're always willing to hang out with us anyway. Even if you feel like a third wheel sometimes, you're the best one I could ask for."_

_Where did that come from? Besides, he had no idea how weird and like a third wheel felt. It was nice to see he cared though._

That's just one of those moments I was talking about. Or was I totally overreacting? I didn't even know anymore. With a groan I flopped down onto my bed. Before I could drift off to sleep though, there was a loud rapping sound on the glass of my window. For those of you who are wondering, yes I did yelp and clumsily fall off my bed in surprise. When I looked at the window again, I could see Percy standing on balcony, asking for me to let him in. Only then did I notice that it was absolutely pouring out. If he came here in this weather something must've been up.

I clicked open my window and he climbed through. He shut it and looked at me apologetically for dripping water all over the floor. I sighed, "Come here."

Thankfully, I had a bathroom attached to my room or I would've probably gotten busted by my parents. Leading him in there, I turned away toward the closet to get a few towels. Once I got a few, I turned back to find a shirtless Percy wringing out his shirt over my sink.

Noticing the odd situation he'd just created, he blushed, "Sorry."

_Look at his eyes, not his abs. Look at his eyes, not his abs. _I kept repeating that mantra in my head, but it didn't work so well. He didn't catch my staring though. Instead he took my silence as an opportunity to put his now semi-dry shirt back on. Tossing him a towel, we walked back in my room. He sat down hard on the edge of my bed while I cleaned up the puddle he had made on the floor.

"Not to be rude," I said, "But why are you here?"

Running a hand through his hair, he took a deep breath, "Thalia and I got in an argument."

I stopped mopping up the floor and sat next to him on my bed, "What are you guys fighting about now?" Their fights are common, but they're usually not very serious.

He twiddled his thumbs nervously, "I don't think she'd want me to tell you. I really need advice though."

As much as I wanted to know, I simply said, "Only tell me if you think it's right."

There were a couple seconds of silence before he began, "You know how I've only met her mom like once before? And it was only for a quick hello?" I nodded and he continued. "Well, I found out why. It also explains why she hates being related to her."

"What is it?"

He looked me dead in the eye, "Her mother's an alcoholic. And she's an abusive one. Thalia always wears all those dark jackets to hide the scars and bruises and even some burns. I only saw one of her arms and it was awful."

My jaw probably dropped. Not only was I shocked that that was happening, but also I was shocked she hadn't told me. "Why doesn't she go for help?" I asked.

Rubbing the back of his neck he replied, "That's why we're fighting. She doesn't have any family she could go to so they would probably send her to an orphanage. She claims she'd rather take the beatings. I'm worried though."

I thought about what to tell him for a minute. I definitely wasn't going to take the bitchy road and purposely give him bad advice so they would break up. That never works anyway. So I tried to look at him solely as a friend instead of my crush.

"You guys are so similar," I pointed out to him. "I think that's why you fight a lot. So try to look at it from her perspective. Would you want to move away from all of your friends and live in an orphanage?"

He shook his head, "No, but I'd be open to listening to my options. She just started yelling at me when I said to go for help."

"Did you shout at her that she should go for help?" I pried, still trying to find some advice.

Lowering his head, he muttered, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with-"

Figuring out what to tell him, I interrupted, "If someone was yelling at you to do something, would you want to listen?"

Yet again, he shook his head.

"Then try reasoning with her instead," I offered.

Looking back up at me, he smiled, "I'll give it a try."

Then he wrapped me into a hug. I was surprised at first, yet I hugged him back. The advice was so worth it.

"Thank you," he mumbled in my ear.

"I'll always be here for you," I assured him. There goes solely seeing him as a friend.

**I hope you all loved the chapter. I know a lot of you had been looking forward to some Percabeth. And I know the Pirates of the Caribbean thing was random, but I needed a way to start the chapter and the theme music was stuck in my head while I was writing this.**

**I also know the concept of Thalia being abused is a bit overdone, but I'll get creative with it. Don't worry, I have lots of twist and turns to come.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****BlackAmethyst123****, ****TwinkleLights123****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****Team Percabeth****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****Firehawk97****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****CarolinaEirasSa****, ****nakedeye****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****Amazing-Anna'beth'1****, ****storyteller1425****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Double-O-Snake****, ****girl-crazy-4-VampyreSpeed****, ****LauraBerry****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****wisegirl1333**

**I never have, never will, and still do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

The first huge high school party of the year is always an event begging for disaster. One of my friends, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, has a huge mansion and her parents were away on business for the weekend. She also didn't care much for getting in trouble, so her house was where it was being held. Beforehand, Thalia and I were hanging out while I tried to find something to wear. It was definitely awkward now that I knew about the situation with her mother. But thankfully, she didn't catch on.

"Do you ever wear any color other than black?" I joked as she fixed the collar on her black blouse.

She laughed, "I mix it up every now and then with some gray."

Walking over to my closet, I thought aloud, "What should I wear?"

"It's just a high school house party, not prom. It doesn't really matter," she told me and then flipped open her phone as her text ringtone, Falling Down by Atreyu, went off. It was probably Percy.

Even though it was very unlike me, deep down I think I wanted to impress Percy by looking pretty. I'm really a mess. So, I just shrugged, "You're right."

"Unless you're trying to find a guy," she added and my head snapped in her direction. Did she somehow know? If Nico squealed…

Trying to play dumb, I said, "No. Why would you think that?"

Shrugging, she grabbed her keys off the table, "I don't know. Besides, to do that nowadays a girl pretty much has to dress like a stripper. Which really isn't you."

I sighed in relief. I must be better at hiding this than I thought.

She was practically pushing me out the door by that point, "And you look fine in that so let's go."

I didn't look as good as I had planned in just a white v-neck and jeans, but I didn't think Thalia was going to let me go back. We showed up at the party at about nine even though it started at eight. We went our separate ways and it only took me a few minutes before someone crashed right into me. Assuming it was probably some wasted guy, I shoved him away and kept walking.

My head snapped back in his direction though when I heard him call, "Annabeth?"

When I saw who it was my jaw dropped in shock. It was Luke Castellan. He had been best friends with Thalia and I before Percy even came into the picture. Yes, I had a crush on him too. Sue me. He had moved away though a little while after Percy moved here though. I guess he was back. He was wearing a navy and white baseball tee along with a torn-up pair of jeans. As he walked closer, I got a better look as his sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. A smile broke out across his face and his scar along his right cheek rippled. He had been holding a red cup full of beer, but he just tossed it aside and lifted me in a hug.

"It's so good to see you again!" he shouted over the blaring music.

I nodded as he let me back down, "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"I moved back here a few days ago and heard about the party. I figured I might find some people here," he explained. I assumed he would be going to the same school as me even though he would be a senior since he's a year older.

Since I could barely hear him over the music, I nodded toward a door that led outside, "Let's talk out there."

There was no one else out on the patio, so we went and sat on one of the benches. It felt nice to be with him. I was as close with him as I was with Thalia and Percy, but he wasn't a constant reminder that I couldn't have the guy I liked. We immediately started talking about what had been going on with us in the past seven or so years.

After while, he asked, "Is Thalia here?"

"She's here. I don't know where though," I informed him.

"How has she been?"

My mind flitted to the issues she'd been having with her mom, but it wasn't my place to say anything. Instead, I said, "She's been doing alright. Do you remember Percy?"

He thought for a moment, "Was he the crazy old homeless guy who barked at birds?"

With a chuckle, I shook my head, "No, he was the kid who moved in not to long before you left."

After thinking for a few more seconds, he nodded in realization, "Now I remember. I never really knew the kid though. What does he have to do anything?"

"Thalia's dating him," I stated bluntly.

He laughed, "So, Thalia got herself a boyfriend. That's got to be interesting."

Forcing a small laugh, I replied, "Yeah, I guess."

If by interesting he meant ironic that I like the guy she's dating, then yes, it's very interesting.

His head snapped up, "I almost forgot." He fished around in his pocket for something, "I got you and Thalia gifts before I returned."

In his hand was a beautiful necklace. The lace was simple leather, but the wooden pendant was incredible. From a distance it would only look like an 'AC', yet it had all kinds of engravings. There was a tiny stack of books carved in, a sketchpad the looked like it was wood-burned in, and there were a lot more. I was amazed so many little pictures could fit on the small letters.

"I made it myself," he elaborated, "There wasn't much to do in the town I had lived in, so this became a project of mine." He held it up to my neck, "May I?"

"Of course," I told him. He pushed my hair aside and started to tie the knot of it behind my neck. While he was doing this, I saw Percy and Thalia through one of the windows. They had their arms around each other and were playing beer pong with the Stolls. They were laughing together and they just looked so…happy. It honestly made my heart ache slightly. Things only got worse when I saw Nico. He was standing in the shadows of the room and watching the couple with narrowed eyes. He was so bitter about them being together and I didn't want to be like that.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked. His face was close to mine and his blue eyes were burning into my grey ones.

Bringing my attention back to him, I stuttered, "Um…yeah I just-just zoned out."

When he made no attempt to pull his face further away, I did the dumbest thing ever. I crashed my lips to his.

The more my emotions acted up, the more my brain was shorting out lately. That can't be good.

**A message to all Percabeth fans: Please don't hate me! I know a lot of you probably aren't happy about the Lukabeth I've started, but we all know a story wouldn't be interesting if it went exactly how you would like. Plus, it's just another way to turn the story. And as a little fun fact about this story, it's also kind of a play on the shipping wars that go on.**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please review, they're like crack to me :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: T****eam Percabeth****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****storyteller1425****, ****HubbaBubba77****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****Sneaky ninja 05****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****brutallyhonest96****, ****atlchick313****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****book-freak20****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****FantasyFan86****, ****alidei****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****mythology boy**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Nico POV**

"Hey, Nico!" Rachel cheered happily as she skipped up to me. She was in some baggy t-shirt that read _Insanity is just another art form _and paint-splattered jeans. I wasn't surprised to see the beer bottle in her hand, even though she stilled seemed fairly sober.

"Hey Rach," I greeted. "Great party."

She laughed, "I guess that's one plus side to this mansion. Normally I just think of it as an annoying reminder of how spoiled I am."

I smiled. Rachel was definitely one of my closer friends, even if she could be a little strange. I still didn't tell her I had a crush on Thalia, but she probably could've helped me out. The only reason I even told Annabeth was because she admitted her crush on Percy to me. Rachel and I talked for a few minutes and I was deeply considering telling her. And if for some reason she didn't take it well, I could've just left the party since she would have to stay and watch her house.

Just as I got the guts to, _Party in the U.S.A. _by Miley Cyrus began blaring throughout the whole house (I'll admit my first thought when I heard the song was an image of Thalia cursing off the teen star).

Rachel face-palmed, "I think someone's messing with my iPod dock, I've gotta go."

She disappeared into the crowd and I thought of how big of an idiot I was for not telling her when I had the chance. I needed as much help as I could get. With a sigh, I ventured to her living room where a ping-pong table had been set up. The Stolls were playing Thalia and Percy in beer pong. That stopped me dead in my tracks in a shady back corner of the room. Last time I checked, Thalia never drank. She would go to parties, but she always stayed away from the stuff.

It didn't make sense to me as to why she would be playing a drinking game. I realized though that Connor and Travis were getting beaten badly though and they had only gotten rid of one of Percy and Thalia's cups. Percy must've drank that one and she probably assumed they wouldn't get in another before they won. She was wrong though. By some miracle (the brothers may be good at stealing, but they aren't vey coordinated) they sunk another ping-pong ball and Thalia had to drink. Her face paled slightly as she took the cup. Of course she refused to back down.

She filled her mouth with the liquid, but she didn't swallow. Swiftly, she exited the room out toward the patio, probably to spit out the beer. Percy and I rushed out to find her having done exactly so. We both stepped toward her, yet we stopped in unison when we caught sight of something. On the bench on the patio only a few yards away, Annabeth was practically making out with some blonde surfer-looking guy. What the hell is wrong with her?

Percy reacted before me though and ran toward them. He shoved the guy to the ground shouting, "Get away from her, you drunken creep!"

I guess he didn't recognize the guy either. Annabeth stood with wide eyes at him. I'm not exactly the most clued-in guy when it comes to emotions, but Percy seemed to be getting a little protective for just being a friend to Annabeth. My theory was only farther led on when he stood protectively in front of her.

The blonde guy got up yelling back, "What's your problem?"

Percy growled, "Do you make a habit of just going party to party and making out with-"

He got cut off as Thalia ran over and hugged the guy while shouting, "Luke!"

I swear, if this guy was just more competition for me…

Percy shot me a what-the-hell-is-going-on look to which I simply shrugged. Lately I'd been so confused I didn't know how I wasn't flunking out of all of my classes.

Finally, I spoke up, "Who is this guy?"

Annabeth was smart to stand off to the side quietly. Thalia turned back to us and explained, "This is Luke. He lived here years ago. We all used to be best friends."

Now with a furious blush on his face, Percy went and took Thalia's hand. He's about as jealously-filled as I am. As I was about to think of this guy as competition again, I remembered how Annabeth was all over him only about a minute earlier. Speaking of which…

"Haha, that's great," I fake-laughed, "Annabeth, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I didn't even give her a chance to respond as I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the rest of them.

"What the hell are you doing?" I interrogated. I was a few inches taller than her for once, so I felt a little more intimidating. Which was good because I wanted answers.

She tried to simply wave me off, "It's nothing I'm just-"

She attempted to walk away but I pulled her back. I locked onto her eyes with my dark brooding ones and smacked the wall of the house next to me in frustration. When she jumped slightly by that action I knew I scared her a little bit. I felt kind of bad, but it got her to listen.

Sighing in defeat, she relaxed, "Fine. I made out with Luke. He kissed me back, but I started it. He's not to blame."

"Are you insane?" I deadpanned.

Her eyes narrowed, "No, I'm not. Maybe a little tipsy, but not insane. I just don't want to end up like you."

I blinked in shock, "What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes, "I know that Percy and Thalia being together hurts both of us, but I don't want to take it the way you are. I don't want to be bitter and angry about it. I'd rather try and move on."

Now I didn't know anything about this Luke guy, yet I kind of felt bad for him. And she was calling me bitter. I was just glad I wasn't off the deep end like her.

"You can't just play Luke like that though," I argued.

"Don't worry," she assured me. "I wouldn't do that. You see, I used to have a crush on him before Percy came into the picture. I figured if I started to go out with him those feelings would arise again and I could get over Percy. It's a foolproof plan."

I shook my head, "No it isn't. You're a really smart girl, but this isn't some sort of puzzle or game. And if there's one thing I've learned from all of this it's that you can't strategize the way emotions work out. So if I were you, I'd rethink this little plan of yours."

With that, I simply left the party. And left behind the person who could relate to my issues the most.

**Warning: Long, but semi-important author's note.**

**First of all, I would like to thank all of my reviewers from last chapter. I'm not sure I've mentioned recently how much I love those reviews 3. Anyway, I usually don't update until the weekend, but I have to go to a wedding this weekend. So I hope you all feel special that I didn't just leave you hanging over the weekend.**

**So I hope you all loved the chapter. I originally wanted to have Percy's POV, but I really wanted the conversation between Nico and Annabeth. Next chapter I'm definitely putting in Percy's POV. Who knows? Maybe I'll post it Sunday when I get back.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****jahfreenalam****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Potterwatcher1997****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****4cloverseeds****, ****storyteller1425****, ****FantasyFan86****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****thalico****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****waterwaves27**

**Even though I think I've written this enough times to get my point across, I still do not own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

"I don't know Annabeth…" I tried to reason with her as we were walking through the school parking lots to our cars after the final bell rang. She'd been bugging me to take Thalia on a double date with her and Luke, but I wasn't exactly for the idea.

"Please," she begged, "It will seem more like friends hanging out and you can get to know Luke."

"Um…I don't see me and him getting along too well," I pointed out. "The first time he saw me I was pushing him to the ground and I called him a drunken creep. Besides, have you even asked Thalia if she wants to go?"

She rolled her eyes, "I'm positive she will if you okay it. The only reason she would hesitate is because she would think you'd be uncomfortable."

I sighed, "Fine I'll go. Where are we even going?"

"Well," she began, "I figured since it's still fall…"

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

"Why are we going apple picking?" Thalia groaned into my shoulder as we drove to the orchard. Annabeth and Luke were up front since he was driving, so Thalia and I were comfortably seated in the back. "Last time I checked, that was more of a kid thing."

I chuckled, "So what? It's a fun, random thing to do. And if you haven't noticed, most stuff we do is immature."

She shrugged, "Good point."

"I can see you haven't changed much, Thals," Luke commented. Thals? I was the only one who called her that. It was really beginning to bug me that this guy was just tromping back into our lives and taking away the two most important girls in my life. He may have seemed cool and all, but he had _Annabeth _going out with him the same day he returned. Just a few months earlier she'd been telling some other guy from school to back off after he asked her out. But apparently this dude was some holy exception.

Annabeth laughed, "You can decide whether that's a good or bad thing."

Ten minutes later we were wandering the orchard, trying to find the best apples. At one point, we parted ways. Thalia and I were walking hand-in-hand down one of the dirt paths. We stopped at tree filled with red apples and started plucking them off and throwing them in the basket.

"What are we going to do with all these apples?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said, "Make pie?"

I smiled, "Pie is fine by me."

If there is one thing you will learn about me very quickly, it's that I'm extremely clumsy. So when I stood on my toes to reach an apple, I caught my foot on a root and tripped. Since I was still holding hands with Thalia, I fell right on top of her. We landed face to face with my body on top of hers and I couldn't help but laugh at my lack of coordination. It wasn't uncommon for us to end up like this since I fall a lot and we were a couple so the position wasn't too awkward. Usually she would laugh right along with me.

This time though, I only noticed the way her jaw was clenched in pain. She was trying not to make it noticeable, but I caught it. Getting off of her and sitting beside her, I put a hand gently on her shoulder so she wouldn't get up. Panic appeared in her eyes as I pushed her shirt up just above her belly button. On her left side there was an angry bruise so dark parts of it almost seemed black. Thankfully, few people were there to see it. Though I may have just did more harm to it, I knew I didn't cause it.

She sat up and took a deep breath, looking as if she was waiting for me to start yelling.

Instead I whispered, "Things are getting worse, aren't they?"

Not even bothering with lying, she simply nodded.

"Thalia," I said lightly and she looked at me with her electric blue eyes, "You've got to go for help."

"I can't," she stated simply, knowing that I was already aware of her reasons.

It was hard to go by Annabeth's advice and not start yelling, "I know you don't want police involved, but what about a psychiatrist or something?"

In an attempt to lighten the mood a little, she laughed dryly, "I'm abused not crazy."

"I know you're not crazy," I told her, "But it would give you someone to help you. As much as I want to be that person, I know you don't want to talk to me because I'll worry."

She smiled, "I actually kind of like it when you worry. It's sweet. I just hate when you yell. I hate seeing you angry. Especially with me. I'll think about seeing someone," my face lit up until she added, "On one condition."

"What?"

She kissed me lightly on the lips before responding, "You don't let me become a big wimp."

Then she punched me lightly in the arm and I helped her up, "It will take a lot for you to become a wimp."

We found the other couple and I went straight toward Annabeth. "Why don't you two catch up with each other?" I told Thalia and Luke and then turned back to Annabeth, "Walk with me?"

We all parted ways once again. Since I didn't know if Luke was the jealous type, I waited until they were out of sight before I picked Annabeth up in a hug.

When I put her down, she looked really surprised, "Why are you so happy?"

"Your advice worked," I explained, "Thalia's mom is beating her worse, but I got her to consider talking to someone."

Her face lit up, "That's great. I knew you could do it."

"I have you to thank," I complemented, "You're the best."

And then she blushed the way she always does when I complement her. I guess she's really modest.

**To all of you hardcore Percabeth shippers, don't sharpen your pitch forks. This chapter gave you a lot of Perlia, but I gave you your share of Percabeth at the end. After all, the small doses are what keep the story interesting. I love writing an oblivious and clumsy Percy. And I hope you loved him too.**

**I have trouble writing chapters during the week, but I have an idea for a Percabeth one-shot in mind that I might post sometime this week. What do you all think?**

**Also, how does Thalico sound for the next chapter?**

**Anyway, please review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****jahfreenalam****, ****Team Percabeth****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****mythology boy****, ****sasha1207****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****the ghost king****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Firehawk97****, ****4cloverseeds****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Potterwatcher1997****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****atlchick313**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Thalia POV**

It was four o'clock in the morning when I was woken up by the sound of heavy rock music blaring from my mom's bedroom across the hall. Normally I wouldn't mind waking up to _Black Sabbath_, but it was way too early. Plus the fact I know that my mom isn't a huge music fan, so when she does play music I'm positive it's to cover up the sound of her "playtime" with her "guy friends". Trying to ignore the knowledge of what was going on, I went straight downstairs.

Don't get me wrong, my house is pretty big and could potentially be really nice, but it's completely wrecked. There's broken furniture and beer bottles littered about. My mom won't clean and I'm never home to since I'm usually trying to avoid her. Heading to a closet across the room, I took the key to it from the top of the door frame and unlocked it. I kept my guitar and pocket amp in there because my mom's hands are almost never steady enough to open the lock.

Pulling it out, I began to just play random songs. I think I fell asleep for maybe forty-five minutes at some point. I was playing the intro to Miracle by _Paramore_ when I heard footsteps making their way down the steps. Immediately, I rushed to the closet and stowed the guitar away again. My mom appeared at the foot of the stairs and her eyes widened when she saw me.

She came over and grabbed me by the ear growling, "Now you listen, and listen good."

"That's kind of hard to do with you practically tearing my ear off," I explained and she shoved me backwards. I managed to keep my footing and glare at her. It's shocking that a woman so worn by smoking and drinking could look intimidating in a pink bathrobe. And I'm not easily intimidated. My rebelling against her is probably what brings about the worst of my scars, but I'm not just going to let her act almighty.

Her eyes narrowed at me, "I have a man waiting for me upstairs; I just came to get some beers. If you aren't going to leave you'd better stay out of our way. If you could get a man, you'd understand that a couple wants privacy." Did I mention she's not just a drunk? She's a bitch too. I felt like I was fighting with an arrogant girl in my grade, not my own mother.

Even though she didn't really remember Percy, I decided to rub it in her face, "Actually, I've got a man. And he's way more faithful to me than any guy you score will be to you. Don't you realize none of them ever stay? Now I see why dad left."

Apparently that pushed her too far. She punched the side of my head so far I blacked out. If it wasn't anyone else who threw the punch, I'd have seen it coming. With her I should've, but considering she's still my mom it always a surprise to me when I get hit.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I came back around about an hour later. Looking at the clock I saw it was about eight-thirty. Heading upstairs, I carefully avoided my mom. I made it safely to my room and went straight to my mirror. There was a new bruise on my right temple. I spent the next half an hour getting ready. If I didn't have to cover up all of those scars and bruises I could've been ready in five minutes. Once I got to a point where I didn't look like I'd been thrown through a shredder, I headed out.

It was still early and Percy was in Montauk with his mom for the weekend, so I called the one other person I wouldn't mind waking up.

"Hello?" Nico's groggy voice picked up on the other end.

"Hey," I greeted, "Meet me at Starbuck's in ten minutes. Okay?"

I knew he was rolling his eyes, "Sure."

I hung up and started walking down the street. When I went in there was a long line, and by the time I got out with coffees for each of us, Nico was waiting there. He still had a bit of bed-head and his eyes seemed tired, but he didn't seem annoyed that I had awoken him. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a pretty awesome flaming skull design on it and black jeans that covered the top of his grey Vans.

I held out his coffee to him, "Here you go."

Grabbing the coffee with one hand, he reached for his wallet with the other, "How much do I owe you?"

Swatting his hand away from the pocket that had his wallet, I told him, "I've got it. Consider it me being nice since I woke you up on a weekend. Besides, I paid for it with some money I stole from my mom."

He laughed, "Sleeping would've been nice, but hanging out with you sounded better."

I smiled, "Instead of standing outside this coffee shop, I know where we can go."

A couple of minutes later, we were wandering a music store together, looking at some great albums from our favorite bands. It was nice to have a friend with similar music taste.

I had just put an _All That Remains _CD into one of the radios throughout the store when Nico spoke up, "I don't have a problem with hanging out with you here, but I find it random of you to ask me to go somewhere at eight-thirty in the morning. Isn't that what Percy's for?"

With a roll of my eyes, I told him, "Percy's in Montauk for the weekend and I just needed to get out of my house."

His face fell, "Oh, you're just hanging out with me because your boyfriend isn't here."

"Don't be stupid," I snapped at him, "The fact that he's gone has just given me time to hang out with you. Things haven't been easy between me and him lately, and I've just been around him a lot to try and fix those things. You're the only person I'd lug around a music store this early."

Thinking back on it, that sounded a bit flirty. Considering I was trying to reassure him though, I would deny it as flirting.

He looked me dead in the eye, "If you think music taste is the only thing we have in common, you're wrong."

What was up with him?

Apparently, he decided to drop the topic, "So, what's up with this Luke guy?"

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes again, I sighed, "He's an old friend. Annabeth used to have a crush on him, and now I guess they're getting a second chance. I honestly never thought they'd actually get together. I always figured she'd end up with someone more like Percy."

Then he gave me that look. That look that seems to hold something he knew that I didn't. And it drove me nuts. The rest of the time we were hanging out he tried to avoid the topic as if he were afraid he would spill something. This guy was going to make me go insane.

**So, you got a look into Thalia's home life and her point of view around Nico. And she knows that Nico's not telling her about something.**

**Next chapter, I have a little bit of Lukabeth with a lot of Percabeth planned. How does that sound?**

**Anyway, I hope you all loved the chapter. Please review :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****mythology boy****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****4cloverseeds****, ****liesygirl****, ****LauraBerry****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****phoebsx****, ****MelRose520****, ****the ghost king****, ****SonoftheSea12****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****Electronic Bookworm****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****storyteller1425****, ****thalico****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Sneaky ninja 05****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"You're taking me go-kart racing?" I asked Luke in disbelief.

He grinned, "Yep. And you can't honestly tell me that doesn't sound fun." We had been driving in the car for a good five minutes, but he originally told me we were going to the library.

"It sounds fun," I assured him, "But you lied to me."

"When you put it that way, it makes me sound like a bad guy. Consider it to be a fun surprise I planned."

I'd been dating him for a few weeks, but I still wasn't sure I liked him yet. He was cool, yet I still couldn't get over Percy. However, I was spending so much time with Luke I wasn't around Percy as much which was good. Not that I didn't want to be near Percy, I just figured it would make things easier.

We finally got to the indoor track and it was practically abandoned since it was Sunday night. We had to dress in all of this ridiculous gear and mine was way too big on me. We were the only ones on the track, so it was just me against him. Out of three races, I won two. Mainly because Luke kept crashing into the tire barriers. He only won the second race because my kart wouldn't start. It was a lot more fun than I had expected, yet he kept trying to blame his loss on 'kart malfunctions'.

"I'm telling you, the kart just wouldn't turn properly," he tried to convince me.

I laughed, "That's because _you_ couldn't turn. Stop blaming the kart." We were both sitting on stools at the bar there, sipping a couple of Pepsis.

"Alright, you won," he told me. "So, did you have fun?"

"I did actually, thanks for bringing me."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "No problem. I loved seeing how competitive you got. It was funny…and kind of cute."

Every time I went out with Luke, he'd make me blush. He'd always be complementing me or being such a gentleman. It made me feel guilty though, because he seemed way more committed to this relationship than me. I suppressed a following grimace and we were out to his car a few minutes later. We were halfway back to my house when I realized how close I was cutting it to curfew.

Noticing my worry, he spoke up, "Are you okay?"

"If I don't get home before curfew, I'm going to be grounded for life," I stated plainly. To most people I would've sounded way overdramatic, but eternal grounding was definitely a possibility with my family. Luke nodded in understanding.

We had been making great timing until we got stopped at the rail road tracks as a train pulled in to unload passengers. Since they brought down the gates way before the train even got there, we pulled into my driveway a good fifteen minutes after my curfew.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized and pecked me quick on the lips.

I nearly fell out of the car from trying to get out too fast. As I walked away, I called to him, "It's not your fault that damn train always comes at the most inconvenient times."

The first thing I saw when I crashed through the front door was my dad and step mom sitting on stools across the room with a look of extreme disapproval plastered on their faces. This was one of the few times I actually wished Bobby or Matthew were there; they don't yell as much with them around.

"You're fifteen minutes late and you don't even give us a quick phone call," my father growled.

Though I totally didn't mean it, I choked out an, "I'm sorry. We got stopped by the train in town. My phone died and Luke lost his."

"You expect us to believe that it took you fifteen minutes to get past a train?" my step-mom quipped.

Only getting more annoyed, I snapped, "Considering it's the truth, yes I do."

"Don't use that kind of attitude with your mother!" my dad roared, getting up from his seat. My mother? Did he seriously just try and pull that?

That pushed me over the edge and I completely lost it, "She's not even my mother! Neither of you even act like parents to me! It's like I have two prison guards watching me! Besides we all know that you two would disown me if you could! I can't blame Bobby and Matthew for how they act because they're still little and don't have a damn clue about what's going on! But you two are adults! You should be able to clearly see that what you're doing is wrong!"

By the end of my tirade I was panting heavily in rage. It felt so good to let that all out. I could've gone on like that for hours, but I figured that was good enough. They were both glaring at me, yet I was to the point where I couldn't have cared less.

My dad's voice rang out low and deadly, "Then you can leave. Apparently, it's evident we don't want you and you clearly don't wish to be here."

It was impossible to keep my jaw from dropping, "I don't have anywhere else to go." I expected major grounding, yelling, and extra chores, but I definitely didn't think they would kick me out. They were usually intensely strict, yet they weren't harsh like that.

My step-mom came up beside my dad, "Well, you're making the streets sound much more appealing than living with us."

"Fine," I snarled. If they didn't want me, they weren't going to have me.

Running up to my room quickly, I packed a small bag and stormed back down stairs. They made no attempt to stop me as I slammed the door shut behind me. It was a pitch black night since the moon was blocked by clouds. The only light I had as I walked were the street lights above. My stupid "parents" had taken my freakin' keys while I was packing, so I couldn't even have my car.

As I walked for a while, I finally realized my feet had been on autopilot. They took me straight to Percy's house. It wasn't until I got there that I realized I really needed to talk to someone and he would always be that person. Of course irony would be enough of a bitch to lead me there as well.

Only seconds after I rang the doorbell, he opened the door, "Hey Annabeth. Why on earth are you ringing the doorbell this late?"

When I only stood there in silence, he stepped forward and hugged me. I didn't even have to say anything for him to know something was up; it was crystal clear to him that I was upset. I hugged him back and rested my head on his chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"I got into a fight with my parents and they kicked me out," my voice was barely audible. I only allowed a single tear to roll down my cheek. I didn't want to think that my "parents" had upset me. I only wanted to be angry with them.

"Come in," he told me and guided me to a couch in his living room. He placed a blanket around my shoulders since I was shivering from the cold night air by that point. "Wait here."

While he was gone I simply laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling. I didn't even know how to feel. I wasn't sure if I was angry or upset about leaving or scared or confused. Probably not scared, but I was so messed up it was a possibility.

Percy came back in the room and sat on the edge of the couch. He brushed a strand of hair out of my face, "Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"If you want, you can stay here until this fight with your parents blows over. I just went and talked to my mom about it, she'd love to have you here."

I bolted upright, "Are you serious?" I had originally come here just looking for advice, but I got a new home. It was a nice to think that I could now come home to Percy instead of my messed-up family.

He nodded and I threw my arms around his neck, "Thank you so so so much."

He laughed, "Don't mention it." Don't mention it? I didn't believe thanking him every day for the rest of my life would be enough of a thank-you.

I pulled away and found my face only inches from his. It took every little bit of my will power not to kiss him, but I resisted and fell back on the couch.

"I'll be in my room if you need to talk to someone," he informed me.

"You're the best," I told him quietly as he left the room. Oh god, I wasn't ever going to get over that boy.

**When The Lost Hero came out, I read in one day because I was so absorbed into it. I wanted to add stuff from it into this story, but I decided against. I'm going to leave this story solely as a Percy Jackson fic, but I can almost guarantee my next story will have some involvement. If any of you did read The Lost Hero, I ask that you please do not put potential spoilers in reviews.**

**Anyway, as usual, I hope you all loved the chapter. Annabeth's beginning to realize dating Luke isn't going to solve all of her problems and Percy's letting her stay there. I'm planning to post the chapter tomorrow (and possibly another one on Monday).Thalia's going to find out Annabeth is staying with Percy and Nico's going to have his first chat with Annabeth since the party. Big drama! Big fun!**

**Please review because I have a favor to ask that might help me post another chapter quicker. If you could please include in your reviews which character you think I write best or you want to see me write more of the most, I would greatly appreciate. Because I need a chapter plan and a character's POV would be a great starting point.**

**Wow that was a long author's note, my apologies.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****HiThereSmiley****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****nowhereisdarkness****, ****LauraBerry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****alidei****, ****...it****, ****Firehawk97****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****ImInCloud9****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****the ghost king****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****MelRose520****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Electronic Bookworm****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****deathoughtkid**

As I walked over to the field where the archery club had set up, I scanned the area for Thalia. I had found out earlier in the day that Annabeth was now staying with Percy, so that left me needing to go talk to Thalia. If nothing else, I needed to at least make sure she knew. Luke apparently thought of the same thing because he was shooting next to her, but I knew he wasn't in the archery club.

When I got closer, I heard Thalia telling him, "Am I mad that she's staying with him? No. I trust both of them and it's not like they're really more than close friends. It does, however, tick me off that neither of them told me as if they _did_ have something to hide."

"Who told you?" he asked.

"Rachel. It's not that I don't like Rachel, but she's not even as close with either of them as I am and she found out before me. I felt pretty stupid when I had no idea what was going on with my boyfriend and she was explaining it," she fired an arrow wildly in frustration, but it still hit the bulls-eye.

I stepped in line with them and took a bow. When it comes to archery, I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I was afraid the man running the club would kick me out of the area if I wasn't shooting.

Notching an arrow, I piped up, "So, from what I overhead I'm guessing you found out that Annabeth is staying at Percy's."

She turned toward me, "When did you find out?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, like fourth period."

She put her hands up in exasperation, "I found out ten minutes ago. How am I the last to know? Especially since I was talking to both of them in science today. And Percy again at lunch."

Luke clearly didn't know how to answer, but I could tell he wanted to try and stick up for Annabeth, "Maybe they just didn't want to worry you."

Thalia fired another arrow (and hit another bulls-eye) before responding, "But Annabeth told you when she saw you in English. It's as if Percy just doesn't want me knowing. I tell him everything, but apparently he's perfectly willing to hide stuff from me."

"Just relax," I told her. "Don't you have a date with Percy tonight?" No, I'm not stalking her. I had asked her a few days ago if she wanted to hang tonight, but she mentioned that she had a date with him.

She nodded, "Yeah, but I might not if this turns into a fight. Which I don't want it to, but he's been acting weird lately." Sighing, she muttered, "It's like he doesn't know how to be around me anymore."

Now I don't always know what's going on, but I didn't know what could've been happening with Thalia that could be changing Percy's attitude toward her. She didn't seem any different to me. Except for the fact that I could tell she was kind of mad at me since she knew I was hiding something. But I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to tell her about Annabeth's crush on her boyfriend. I wish I could tell her, but I owed Annabeth that much even though we weren't exactly on great terms.

I looked at Luke and he shot me a nervous glance back. Neither of us really knew what to say to her. It didn't help that she was armed so we were already watching our mouths.

"Why don't you just ask him point blank?" I suggested. "Don't start yelling or anything, but just ask him when you're on your date tonight. If he really loves you, he won't try and hide it."

She thought about for a moment before responding, "Alright, thanks Nico."

Luke gave me a look that clearly approved of my advice. I found it weird because I usually suck with advice. Anyway, Luke and I got stuck there for the rest of archery. We all were quiet, but they couldn't help but laugh when they saw how much I sucked at shooting. One of my arrows even managed to ricochet off a tree and nearly take out Will Solace's eye. I attempted apologizing multiple times, but he just continuously glared at me while Luke and Thalia laughed.

After a good half an hour of me embarrassing myself, we were free to go. Thalia and Luke headed for their cars, but I headed back toward the building. I needed to go get my backpack from my locker. When I was leaving though, I spotted Annabeth down the hallway.

Running to catch up with her, I called, "Annabeth, wait up!"

She spun on her heel to face me, "Hey, you decided to talk to me again?"

The edge in her voice only ticked me off more, "We'll see how long it lasts. Why didn't you tell Thalia you were staying at Percy's?"

She met my glare, "You can't blame me for that. Don't you think it's more of Percy's place to tell her?"

Why does this girl always have to have a good point? "Yeah, but he still hasn't told her and she found out from Rachel. She's kind of pissed."

"What do you want me to do about that? I wish I could tell her she shouldn't worry, but-"

"You would be lying?" I offered.

Her eyes narrowed, "I'm not going to try anything with Percy. Believe it or not, I still have a guilty conscious. I would feel bad if I did that to my two best friends. And since I know you'd hate me for that too, I definitely wouldn't. At least not intentionally."

Even though I'm usually not big on hugs, I offered my arms out, "You're right. I'm sorry I trusted you so little. Can we consider this a truce?" It just wasn't worth fighting with her anymore. Plus, even if I didn't approve of what she was doing, it wasn't really my business.

She stepped into my hug and agreed, "Truce."

"Cool," I said, "Now do you need a ride back to Percy's?"

"That'd be nice," she told me.

The entire car ride, I was able to just talk with her again. She made it seem as if I never got mad at her. Percy's kind of an idiot not to like her (I'm not saying he doesn't have reasons to like Thalia, but we all know my opinion on that relationship), but she's just not my type. Besides, I still had my own feelings for Thalia to sort out. I had become a best friend of hers, yet I still couldn't help but want to be more. Even though I thought what Annabeth was doing to herself was kind of stupid, I had to give her credit for trying. After all, I just kept digging deeper into the rut I was already trapped in.

**Okay, I needed Nico's POV for this chapter so he could make up with Annabeth. I found it funny that a lot of you said I was good at writing Thalia's POV even though I only had one chapter from her perspective. Which is good because I think the next chapter will be in her POV and then Annabeth's because most of you said Annabeth was my best POV. Anyway, I hope you all loved the chapter, it felt good to update so quickly again (stupid school). And just a heads up, I'll probably post another chapter tomorrow because I'm on a roll.**

**Please review :) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****ImInCloud9****, ****the ghost king****, ****liesygirl****, ****storyteller1425****, ****MelRose520****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****momsforpercy****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Thalia POV**

Percy and I weren't supposed to go out until eight o'clock, but I got ready earlier and headed toward his apartment building. Instead of going up to his door to get him, I waited by his car. He was originally going to pick me up at my house, yet I came here. If we ended up fighting and calling off the date, I would only have to walk a few blocks to get home versus having to sit through an awkward car ride home if he had picked me up. So I made myself comfortable, propping my foot up against the driver's door and leaning back on it. Only a few minutes later, Percy appeared in the parking garage.

"Hey," he greeted walking up to me. "I thought I was supposed to pick you up."

_It's now or never. _I told myself.

"Is Annabeth staying with you?" I asked flatly.

His face scrunched like it always does when he gets nervous, "Well…y-you see-about that." He caught my serious expression and sighed, "Yeah. I was going to tell you tonight."

"Why? Did you seriously think I wouldn't find out at school?"

"I hoped you wouldn't. I wanted to tell you myself."

Still fighting to keep my temper reigned in, I argued, "Then why didn't you? I have Science with you and Annabeth first period."

He ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know. I guess I thought it would be better if I told you away from school and by ourselves. That way if you got mad we wouldn't be screaming at each other in front of everyone. That would be pretty awkward."

At first I was offended that he just assumed I would get mad, but then I realized he kind of had a right to that assumption.

Before I could speak he continued, "I'm sorry. Are you mad?"

I shook my head, "I'm not mad. I'm slightly disappointed you didn't tell me as if you had something to hide about it. In fact, I'm glad you took her in. I would've done the same thing if my mom wouldn't have probably beaten her too." It was meant to be a joke, yet I saw how tight his jaw clenched. "I guess I just freaked a little because of how rocky things have been with us lately."

A part of me still just wanted to blame him; however, I figured it would be better to simply bring up the obvious fact of how weird things had been between us.

He nodded in understanding, "That's my fault. I've been pushing you away because I have no idea what to do with my girlfriend who's getting abused by her own mother. My first instinct would be to protect you even if it meant beating the woman up, but I doubt you would want me to do that."

Now I felt a little bad that he was putting all of the blame on his shoulders. It wasn't his fault I was getting beaten, it was my witch of a mother's. She even managed to have an effect on my love life, and it was driving me insane.

"No, I wouldn't," I agreed. "If it's any condolence, I'm seeing a therapist."

Even though he tried to cover it up, his smile was evident, "And how's it going?"

I'd only been to one session, yet I was still able to reply, "Alright. The lady's cool. She has some code of silence or something, so she's not going to the authorities to arrest my mom, even though she suggested I should."

"Good," he said with his smile getting wider, "Now that I can put my worries on this woman's shoulders, I can stop the role of your protective boyfriend and take the role of your super awesome and fun boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes at his odd sense of humor as he bent down and kissed me. He placed his hand next to me on the car and the other gently on my hip. Leaning forward a little, I deepened the kiss more. My hands went up into his hair and he moaned slightly. The perverted security guard that I've seen working in the building before was probably creepily watching us on one of the cameras set up in the garage, yet I couldn't have cared less. Percy had been making it seem like I'd snap in half if he simply kissed me lately, and now I finally had the part of him I preferred back.

I pulled away with a smirk, "I'm glad the actual you is back."

He smiled, "Hopefully, this me is here to stay." It was unspoken between us, but we both doubted his words. Something we had was shattered and I wasn't sure it would exactly be easy to get back.

For our date we ended up just going and getting dinner at the local diner. It wasn't anything fancy, which I was happy about. Instead of dropping me back at my house after dinner, I had him bring me to his apartment since I wanted to talk to Annabeth. She probably thought I was ticked off, so I figured I should take her off of red alert. And I hadn't talked to her alone since she got kicked out of her house. Percy's mom wasn't home when we got back, but Annabeth was lounging on the couch, reading some book.

She looked up at us, "Hey."

"Hey," I greeted back.

Percy's gaze shifted awkwardly between the two of us, "I'll be in my room."

He scurried off to his room and I went and sat next to Annabeth on the couch, "So, how's your home away from home?"

"You're mad," she deadpanned.

I face-palmed with a groan, "Why does everyone just assume I'm angry?"

She shot me a sarcastic look that clearly said: _Do I really need to answer that for you?_

"I'm not mad," I said for the umpteenth time that day. "If anything I would be mad at Percy for not telling me, but I'm not mad at you at all. I'm actually happy with you. You getting kicked out means you finally stood up to your asshole parents."

A slight smile broke out across her face, "Yeah and look where that got me."

"Who cares? You're better off here anyway."

Her face fell a bit, "I guess. I still just can't believe they kicked me out. As much as I love it here, I feel like a burden."

"Things will get better," I assured her even though I didn't believe my own words. Mainly because, despite my therapist, my home life still sucked. There had been plenty of times I had considered telling Annabeth what was going on. After seeing how Percy reacted though, I definitely didn't plan on it anytime soon.

"Do you actually believe that?" she challenged.

I gave her a quick hug, being careful of my scars and bruises, "In your case, I truly believe it."

"Thanks," she whispered.

I got up and headed for the door. I'm very protective of my friends, and I was glad to see her far away from a house that she was always upset in. Percy would take good care of her. He takes good care of everyone.

Before I left, I turned back to her, "Oh, one last thing. You might want to call Luke and talk to him. He feels like he got you kicked out since he got you home late."

**ATTENTION ALL PERCABETH FANS: I know most of you probably weren't happy about the Perlia in this chapter, but you should be happy at the same time since you can also see them drifting. Also, I wanted to add in the little scene with Annabeth and Thalia because they're best friends, yet I haven't gotten too much of a chance to show that.**

**Anyway, I still hope you all loved the chapter since it's helping the tension build :)**

**Drama's so much fun when you're not involved.**

**Please review and I'll try and post the next chapter by the end of the week. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****mythology boy****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****...it****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Electronic Bookworm****, ****momsforpercy****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****the ghost king****, ****CarolinaEirasSa****, ****liesygirl****, ****storyteller1425****, ****MelRose520****, ****PeaceForEternity****, ****thalico****, ****Firehawk97****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****deathoughtkid****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Blackhawk1997**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"So, Clarisse," Silena spoke up, "I heard you're going out with Chris now?"

The school bell had just rang only minutes earlier so the rest of the girls and I were hanging out in the lobby, talking about random nonsense. The room was practically abandoned aside from us since everyone was waiting outside to get on their buses or be picked up. Thalia was sitting next to me on the ramp railing, Silena and Clarisse were on one of the benches across the room and Katie and Rachel were sitting on the steps.

Clarisse's face tinged slightly red as she barked, "Shut up! I don't see what the big deal is."

"Gee, maybe it's the fact that you've liked this guy for so long and now you're finally dating him," Katie stepped in. Gee, that situation didn't sound familiar to me or anything.

"Yeah," I pointed out, "And maybe having actual feelings for someone will make you less violent."

I thought she was going to tell me to shut up, but instead she joked, "I doubt it. Too bad that didn't work for Thalia."

Thalia simply laughed next to me, "Yep. Love hasn't changed the way I act and it never will." Love? Ugh, I had to suppress a groan at being reminded that her and Percy were in love. Them being together was bad enough. God damn emotions.

Rachel added in, "Well, it shouldn't. I guess there can be exceptions though if it betters a person."

"How would you know?" Silena asked. "You're still single."

That only caused Rachel to chuckle, "Yeah and I love every minute of it. Don't tell me you guys don't miss checking out random hot guys wherever you go."

None of us were really able to argue Rachel's point. Though I never really used to check guys out that often anyway since I liked Percy. And I might _still _like him. I'm still trying to figure out that whole scenario. I was also surprised none of them decided to pick on me for dating Luke.

Katie seemed confused, "Wait, why didn't any of you point out that I'm single too?"

"Because you like Travis!" we all shouted in unison.

"No, I don't!" she protested, but we ignored her.

The rest of us laughed and Thalia told her she was in denial. It was fun just hanging out without the guys for once. Because lately they only confused me, and it's rare that I'm so confused. A couple minutes later I got a text from Percy. I noticed that Thalia grabbed her phone around the same time as me. Percy said his mom wanted Thalia, Luke, Nico, and I to all have dinner there. Even though I was living there, I had been eating out so Ms. Jackson (I still can't call her Sally even though she insists) didn't feel like she had to cook for me. I knew this dinner would mean bad news, but I agreed anyway.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

"Why did I agree to this?" Nico grumbled almost inaudibly. I'll admit that I couldn't blame him. He was at one end of the table, Ms. Jackson was on the other, Thalia and Percy were together on one side of the table, and Luke and I were on the other side. He was by himself due to the couples.

Trying to be polite and lighten the mood, I said, "Thank you for inviting us all to dinner, Ms. Jackson."

She smiled, "It's no trouble. I love to actually talk to Percy's friends for once."

"Mom," Percy groaned, "Most parents just ignore their child's friends."

Thalia hit his shoulder lightly, "Don't be rude, your mom's cool." Out of all of us, Percy should probably be complaining the least about parents. Thalia and I obviously have family issues, Nico's parents are dead so he lives with his sister, and Luke's mom has mental issues.

Ms. Jackson only grinned more (I'd been living there for a week and I don't think I'd seen this woman even get close to a frown), "Thank you. I'll be back in a minute with the salad."

She disappeared into the kitchen and Nico took this as a chance to yawn. He didn't want to be cruel and make it obvious to Ms. Jackson that he was uncomfortable, so he was letting it out now. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Luke kept trying to grab my hand under the table. I guess it was supposed to be a kind of cute way of flirting, but it just bugged me for some reason. While I was bothered by Luke's PDA, Thalia openly put her head on Percy's shoulder. It was ironic that I was the one living here, but Thalia seemed more at home.

All was quiet until we heard Ms. Jackson shriek from the kitchen, "Ow!"

Percy shot up from his seat and called, "Mom, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just burned my hand on the stove on accident." From the tone of her voice you could tell it really hurt though, so we were all crowded in the kitchen a few seconds later. A patch of her hand was bright red, and seemed pretty painful.

Thalia examined her hand before saying, "Just run it under some cool water. It'll probably hurt for a little while, but it doesn't seem too bad. Since it's just red I don't think much skin was destroyed. You're lucky there's no blistering or swelling."

Nico looked curiously at Thalia, "How do you know this stuff?"

"Um…I took a minor medical course a few years ago," she lied. That would've been totally believable, but Percy and I knew the truth: she had to treat these on herself.

Ms. Jackson began to head toward the kitchen sink, but Luke stood in her way, "Why don't you go use the bathroom sink? That way the rest of us might be able to get dinner together." I didn't know a damn thing about cooking, but I figured I could just take up some menial job that didn't involve much culinary skill.

We should've known that she wouldn't let us that easily though, "It's fine. I can still cook. After all, it would be rude as host of me to-"

Nico cut her off, "Seriously, we've got it. It was nice of you to invite us, let us return the favor." It was weird seeing Nico being polite, yet I just kept my mouth shut. With that, she left half-heartedly for the bathroom.

Attempting to cook dinner in the tiny kitchen gave me a chance to talk to almost everyone…and eavesdrop a little.

While Thalia was stirring a pot with pasta sauce in it, Percy approached her from behind and whispered (more like tried to) in her ear, "Medical course? We both know that's bullshit."

She sighed in defeat, "I thought you were going to drop this. Or is the obnoxiously protective part of you back?"

Though he seemed reluctant, he growled, "Fine, I'll drop it."

At least I doubted Nico overheard their conversation because he was too busy running everything. Apparently he was pretty good at cooking, which most definitely caused us to crack a few jokes. He simply shrugged and told us he learned from his sister. It was a good thing he knew what he was doing though because the rest of us were brain-dead in a kitchen.

Luke came up next to me, "Well, this has certainly been an eventful night."

I laughed, "Eh, I've had worse."

Automatically assuming I meant the night I got kicked out, he went into apology mode, "I know you're probably sick of me saying this, but I'm really sorry about that. You're being really cool about this. I was originally kind of nervous about you staying here. It's not really my place to speak though. And I trust you completely."

He kissed me on the cheek and I had to suppress a groan for the second time that night. Luke was getting too serious for what I originally planned. I was only sure of two things. One: as much as I hate to admit it, I was _still _hung up on Percy. Two: I couldn't keep leading Luke on, but I had no clue how to end things between us.

**Yet again, I know this was a random chapter. I basically used this chapter just to show the building tension. Annabeth's getting bothered by Luke, Percy's still pestering Thalia, and Nico is far from happy.**

**Don't worry though; next chapter will be interesting :)**

**So I hope you all loved the chapter and please review. **


	12. Chapter 12

**I am so sorry I didn't post last weekend. My computer got taken over by some virus called Thinkpoint. My Norton Antivirus software was supposed to keep it away, but that didn't work. So my computer was in a shop for most of the week.**

**Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****alidei****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****storyteller1425****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Anna Jackson****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Electronic Bookworm****, ****the ghost king****, ****TheMaskedGirl****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****deathoughtkid****, ****MelRose520****, ****atlchick313****, ****I love thalico and seth DD****, ****SoccerGirl8**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Thalia POV**

I simply don't understand why people make a huge deal out of high school football games, especially when our school was in the worst division in the state. We almost never won a game, but everyone went just for the hell of it. Me, sadly, being one of those people. Annabeth and Luke were seated on my right and Nico was on my left. Percy had to go somewhere for the night, so he wasn't joining us. Everyone cheered when our team got a first down, but then they fumbled the ball on the next play.

"Twenty bucks says our team doesn't get more than a field goal," Nico commented as our quarterback got sacked a little while later.

I laughed, "I would take that bet if it wasn't practically rigged for you to win."

He shrugged, "I guess I'm just looking for a bit extra cash."

"Fine then," I told him and shoved a five-dollar bill in his hand. "Go get a hot chocolate or something. It's my mom's money and I'm not going to use it."

He knew better than to protest over times I lend money.

As he got up to leave, Annabeth shot up from her seat, abruptly dropping Luke's hand that had been holding hers in the process, "I'll go with you."

Once they were gone, Luke groaned and put his face in his hands.

I slid closer to him on the bleacher, "What's wrong?"

"Am I doing something wrong with Annabeth?" he asked. "Because I've just been being nice, but she shuts me out."

Not that I had actually been paying much attention, yet Annabeth did seem to be acting weird around him. She seemed like she didn't want him acting like a boyfriend, yet she kind of agreed to going out with him. I hadn't really thought about it much until then.

"Maybe she's still just getting used to you being back around," I tried to reason even though I knew what I was saying was crap.

He gave me an 'Are you serious?' look, "We've been going out for a while now. At first she wasn't like this. She's just been like this ever since she got kicked out. Maybe she's still mad at me for getting her home late."

I smacked his arm, "Quit blaming yourself. I don't know why she's acting the way she is, but I don't think that's why. She doesn't blame you either."

Before he could get a chance to respond, Rachel slid in next to me, "Well, hello people."

I could smell the alcohol in her breath and the way her words slurred was obvious.

"Are you drunk?" I asked despite the fact I knew the answer already.

She laughed, "Yep, I sure am. My dad was bugging me, so I stole some of his beer and snuck out. It turns out freshman will pay a lot for the stuff. And I treated myself a little."

It was hard for me not to laugh too. It may have not been the cleverest revenge on her dad, but it definitely seemed like it would work. As the game continued, Nico and Annabeth still didn't return and eventually Rachel asked where they are.

"So where's Blondie and Grumpy?" she chirped. Grumpy? I couldn't help but laugh at her description of Nico. He was obviously a grumpy guy, yet it was funny to think of him sharing a name with one of the seven dwarfs.

Luke threw his hands up in exasperation, "Who knows? But they're probably trying to avoid me."

"Well I'm going to go look for them," she got up from her seat and tripped in the process.

I turned to Luke, "I should probably go with her to make sure she doesn't get herself hurt." I didn't want to leave him alone, but Rachel had to be watched.

I wasn't too close with her, yet I knew she wasn't a drunk you should just leave. Because after she had a few, she didn't get violent or bitter. She just got plain stupid. At one of her house parties a year earlier, she almost jumped her roof claiming she wanted to learn how to fly.

Anyway, I followed her out of the bleachers and caught up with her as she walked toward the small shack where they sold food at the games. She eventually spotted Nico and Annabeth and began walking faster. Even though she kept stumbling, I nearly had to jog to keep up with her. Nico and Annabeth were behind the shack but she went to the side of the structure and pulled me behind her.

"What are you-"

"SSHHH," she cut me off rather loudly.

She began to creep along the side of the building toward the back of the building while humming the _Mission Impossible_ theme and I figured out what she was going to do.

"You're going to spy on them Rachel?" I asked. "Really? How old are you?"

She giggled, "It's fun."

As we reached the corner of the building, I listened in on what they were saying. I wasn't doing it to be nosy, but I was waiting for a break in the conversation where I could drag Rachel away. She was less likely to make a scene if they weren't saying much.

"So," Nico said, "Do you want to head back to the game?"

Annabeth sighed, "Not really. It's so awkward whenever he makes a move on me." I knew she meant Luke and that caught my attention. I'll admit I was getting a little interested in their conversation.

"Then why don't you just end it?"

She took a deep breath, "I don't know. Can we just stop talking about this?"

"Sure."

"Besides, I doubt you want to go back either. I can tell you're really trying really hard to keep yourself from flirting with Thalia since Percy's not around." Flirting with me? Why the hell would Nico be flirting with me?

He chuckled darkly, "I really like Thalia, but I still have most of my self-control."

My eyes probably bulged out of my head and my jaw dropped. How could Nico like me without me having even the slightest freakin' clue? We were good friends, but I didn't know he liked me as more. Okay, maybe I did suspect it a little but didn't want to deal with it. After all, I was with Percy and I loved him. How long had Nico liked me anyway?

Desperate to get away from there, I dragged a giggling Rachel back toward the stands.

"Well, uh-oh," she said. "I don't think we were supposed to hear that."

"Yeah, no kidding," I snapped sarcastically. Needing to just get away and think, I left Rachel with Luke. He didn't seem too thrilled with the idea, yet I guess he could tell I really couldn't deal with her at the moment.

The second I got in my car I gripped the steering wheel in my hands and purposely slammed my head into them in frustration. First I have my psychotic mother, then my overprotective boyfriend, and now I find out Nico likes me. What the f***? The only thing I could think to do the next time I saw Nico was to act like I never overheard his confession. But I doubted that that was going to go over very well.

**So there wasn't much Percabeth this chapter, but Percabeth fans will love the next chapter. And now Thalia knows Nico likes her, only adding to everything else going on in her life. I know Rachel being drunk was a bit random, but I found it funny and I needed Thalia to somehow overhear Annabeth and Nico. So, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter after the lengthy wait.**

**Please Review :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****alidei****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Firehawk97****, ****atlchick313****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****Aliaga Snow****, ****brutallyhonest96****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Amazing-Anna'beth'1****, ****storyteller1425****, ****MelRose520****, ****cstar12****, ****nakedeye****, ****TaylorWeeksy**

**Even though I'm pretty sure you are all aware of this, I don't own PJO. **

**Luke POV**

"I definitely failed that test," my friend, Ethan, grumbled as we walked out of math class. "I didn't understand any of it."

I shrugged, "It's only one test. You'll have time to try and improve your grade still. Besides, when are we going to use parabolas in life?"

He thought about that for a second, "Very true. So, are you around tonight? The rest of the guys and I are going to the monster truck rally a few towns over."

"I can't," I told him, "I have a date with Annabeth tonight."

With a frustrated laugh, he told me, "You're so whipped. You're seriously going to miss your chance to see a bunch of huge trucks crush each other for just another date with that chick?"

I shoved him against the lockers next to us, "Don't talk about my girlfriend like that."

"Why? Because it's true?" he challenged.

"Dude, you are so out of line," I growled. "Things have been bad between me and her and I don't want to rock the boat. And last time I checked, you're still single so don't start acting like you know what's better for me to do."

With that, I took off down the hallway. That may have been kind of low of me to say, but he's always been hounding me about how I'm so 'whipped'. Even if I am, Annabeth was worth it to me. And she had actually planned our date for that night so I figured she wasn't mad at me anymore. And I definitely wasn't going to let Ethan screw that up.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I met Annabeth at the movie theatre at eight. We were supposed to be seeing some scary movie even though we'd probably just be making fun of it the entire time. When I caught up with Annabeth at the front of the theatre though, she asked if we could go to some coffee shop down the road instead. I didn't know why she wanted change plans, but I agreed. Coffee was cheaper than seeing a movie anyway.

"So why did you want to come here instead?" I asked as I pulled up a chair next to her and placed our two coffees on the table.

She picked hers up and sipped it, "I wanted to talk to you. And I figured it would be easier to do that here than in a movie theatre where everyone is screaming over scenes that aren't actually scary."

I nodded, "Fair enough. Did you have something in particular you wanted to talk about?"

When she nodded, I panicked a bit. A girl needing to talk about something in a relationship usually doesn't end too well for the guy.

Yet again, I went into apology mode, "Look, if I did anything I'm so sor-"

"Would you stop apologizing?" she snapped. "I'm sorry. And as stupid as this sounds, it's not you, it's me. But I think…I think we should-"

"Break up," I finished for her in a dead tone. I had been so happy when she had agreed to go out with me when I came back. It was nice to have someone who was so close to me so many years ago even closer when I returned. "Can I ask why?"

While she answered, she fingered the necklace I gave her the night I came back, "I used you. To be honest, I have feelings for someone else. When we were younger, I had a crush on you. I figured that if I went out with you, I could fall for you again and forget about my feelings for the other guy. But my feelings for him are stronger than I thought, and I can't keep fighting them off."

My hand trembled slightly in anger, "So you never went out with me because you liked me. You only wanted to use me to get past this other guy."

She nodded, "I'm sorry."

"Answer me one thing," I told her and she nodded once again. "Clearly your feelings for this guy are torturing you. So how can you possibly justify messing with my feelings so I felt pain like yours? Wanting someone, but not being able to have them. At least not completely."

Looking back on it, that sounded really deep. If I hadn't been ticked off at the moment, I probably would've patted myself on the back for that.

For once in my life I saw the Annabeth Chase actually looking confused, "You're right, I can't justify it. I can apologize all I want, but that won't keep me from being a hypocrite."

"You've got that right," I snapped. She seemed a bit taken aback by my comment, but I had a right to be mad. "I may forgive you though, if you can tell me one more thing."

She looked a little uplifted that I was giving her a chance for forgiveness, "What?"

"Is Percy the other guy you like?"

I had my suspicions about her liking him ever since we went apple picking. When we had been together as a group, she seemed happier than when she was just with me. And when I met up with her after her walk with Percy then, she seemed ecstatic. As time passed, it only became more and more obvious, but I kept pushing it aside because I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to believe I was losing her, but we both knew deep down that I was.

Her voice was barely audible, "Yeah. I like Percy."

I sighed, "I guess I can understand why you did it since he's with Thalia. And I guess I forgive you. But please do me a favor and stay away from me for a while."

Not even giving her a chance to respond, I stormed out of the coffee shop. As I walked back to my house, I felt empty. Empty because I was used. Empty because I knew I still liked her and that was why I forgave her so easily.

When I opened the front door of my house my crazy mother ran up to me and grabbed my arm, "Sweety, you're back. It was getting late and I was so worried."

It was only like a quarter to nine, but I didn't point that out to her. Especially since her green eyes were focused so intently on me I felt like I was under an interrogation lamp.

"I'm fine mom," I assured her, trying to keep the impatience out of my voice.

She went to the kitchen quickly and came back out with a metal lunch box, "I made you some lunch. It's your favorite; a peanut butter sandwich with some Kool-Aid."

Quite frankly, I was barely able to stomach either of those anymore since that was the only food I ever got here. My stomach was already churning anyway from my break-up with Annabeth so for once I took the lunch box and went up to my room, making sure I locked the door in case my mom went into another one of her fits.

That night I simply sat on my bed, eating the small lunch my mom had made and wondering how the hell I was going to get past Annabeth.

**Okay, so I know I left all of you Thalico fans hanging, but that comes up next chapter. I had a hard time writing Luke's POV so I hope I didn't butcher it as well as how the mom was at the end. And as for the Percabeth fans, this chapter wasn't really a Percabeth moment, but Lukabeth has been terminated. So, Percabeth fans rejoice!**

**Yet again, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and that you tune in next weekend for the next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****Daughter of Hades422****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****wizegirl101****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****...it****, ****atlchick313****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****Amazing-Anna'beth'1****, ****syl1629****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Adonai63****, ****the ghost king****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Firehawk97****, ****candy0304****, ****MelRose520****, ****Perseus12****, ****Lycans**

**If I did own PJO, why would I be on FANfiction?**

**Thalia POV**

People say exercise is a good stress relief. I must be some exception because I decided to try and relieve some of my stress by running on a treadmill in the school's weight room after my last class ended. Even with You Give Love a Bad Name by _Bon Jovi _blaring from my iPod headphones, my troubling thoughts couldn't be put to rest. On top of all the other crap I was dealing with, I had to keep taking Luke off of suicide watch ever since Annabeth broke up with him. And since Annabeth caused his depressed state and no one else was that close with him, I was put in charge of looking after him. I didn't see why it was the end of the world to him since he had plenty of other girls he could go out with, but he said there was more to it. So, yet again I was being kept in the dark.

"Hey," Percy greeted as he climbed onto the treadmill next to me.

I pulled out one headphone and slowed the speed of my treadmill so I could talk, "Hey, what's up?"

He shrugged, "Nothing much. I just figured I should get a little working out done before swim team starts up. Do you need a ride home from here?"

I shook my head, "I have my car in the parking lot. Besides, I told Nico I would drive him home."

Nico had to make up some biology test and since his sister usually takes him home right after school, he needed a ride home. I agreed to give him one since I was staying after anyway. Plus the fact I still kind of needed to talk to him. I had basically been avoiding him ever since I found out he liked me. That's kind of mean, but I had no idea what to do about it. Bringing it up during a car ride would probably be good time though so that neither of us could walk away from the conversation.

"That stinks for me then," he commented. "I barely get to see you anymore."

"I know," I sighed. "I've just had a lot on my mind."

He hopped off of his treadmill and came next to me, "Well, do you think you can keep your mind clear enough to come over to my house next Saturday?"

I climbed off of my treadmill as well, "I think I can do that. As long as you promise to try and not stress me out."

He chuckled and wrapped me in a hug, "I promise I'll try. But we both know I'm not the most calming influence."

I laughed a little with him and kissed him quick before heading out toward the parking lot. As I expected, Nico was already waiting by my car when I got there. His mouth quirked up in a tiny smile as I approached and I forced a slight one in return through the haze of awkwardness between us. 

The second we were both seated in the car, he asked, "Are you okay? Because you seem to be avoiding me lately."

Starting up my car, I pulled out of my space as Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast) by The Lostprophets came on the radio. What a fitting song for my life. As I pulled out of the parking lot I finally admitted, "Kind of. A few weeks ago at the football game, you know how you went with Annabeth to get food?"

His left eyebrow shot up in curiosity, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well Rachel showed up drunk and went to go find you guys. I went to fetch her before she did something stupid, but she thought it would be fun to spy on you guys. Fair warning, I blame Rachel and alcohol. Anyway, before I could drag her away I heard you say something that I don't think was intended for me to hear." I probably should've mentioned the fact that I wasn't exactly in a hurry to stop eavesdropping, but I figured this would already be bad enough for him.

His dark eyes grew wide in panic, as if he already knew what I was talking about, "What exactly did you hear?"

"Nico," my voice dropped to almost a whisper, "Do you have a crush on me?"

I'd like to say the following silence wasn't awkward. I would be totally lying if I did though. The only sound in the car was the music playing on the radio. While I drove I was chewing my bottom lip in anticipation.

After nearly a whole minute, he spoke at last, "Yeah, I do." Just those three words were filled with so much anguish I felt a little bad for him. I couldn't even imagine what it must've been like for him to always be seeing me with Percy.

With a deep breath, I responded, "I'm sorry. If I didn't like Percy we may have had a chance but I really like him. If it's any consolation, I personally think you could do a lot better than me." It's very rare that I show doubt in my self, but it was more like I thought he could do better than having to deal with my crazy life.

"What if I can't?" he growled. "Or what if I don't want to?"

It took me a few seconds to come up with something to say to that, "Being stubborn like that isn't going to end up making you happy. Trust me, I know from experience."

"I know," he ran a hand through his hair, "It's just that…I-I've liked you for so long now. And it's hard to not try and win you over from Percy. Especially since I know you so well." It was difficult not to laugh. Nico only knew about the positive parts of my life.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not being an asshole about this," I deadpanned. "You could've done something stupid like try and break Percy and me up or try to win me over like you said. You've respected the fact that I'm with him even though you hate it."

He laughed dryly, "It's like I'm waiting for a bunch of cameramen to just pop out and tell us that this was all just some TV drama show." Normally I would call him out for getting off topic, but it must've been hard for him to admit he liked me and I already got the info I wanted.

"I wish." The music was still playing in the car and even though I liked the song, I told Nico, "You can plug your iPod in." I found it weird that he hadn't hooked up his iPod yet since he always does that when I gave him a ride. He held up one finger in gesture that said 'wait for it'.

He still had his finger raised as my favorite part of the song came on:

_Standing on the rooftops  
(Wait until the bombs drop)  
This is all we got now  
(Scream until your heart stops)  
Never gonna regret  
(Watching every sunset)  
We'll listen to your heartbeat  
(All the love that we found)_

Right after that part he plugged in his iPod and Feel Good Drag by _Anberlin _started playing.

"Why did you wait for that part of the song to end?" I asked, not that I was complaining.

He grinned wryly, "Wasn't that your favorite part of the song?"

"Yeah," I said, "Thanks, I guess." I remembered mentioning briefly that that was my favorite part of the song a while ago when we were listening to it. I was surprised he actually remembered. "How the hell did you remember that?"

That only caused his grin to get wider, "Like I said, I know you well. And I'm not giving up that easily."

As I pulled into to the driveway where he lived I could only think that this kid was gonna be the death of me.

**Okay, so this chapter was pretty much just to wrap up the idea of Thalia finding out Nico likes her. However, that idea will most certainly return in other chapters. And for the next chapter I'm planning more of an actual Percabeth scene. Also, many of you said last chapter that you felt bad for Luke. I did as well. Writing it was difficult because I was trying to not make Annabeth sound like too much if a bitch and Luke to not just throw a temper tantrum. So, yes I feel bad for him as well.**

**Fair warning, I'm going to try really hard to but I might not post next weekend. I have to go to Maine next weekend and I probably won't be getting back until late Sunday. If I don't post, keep your eyes open during the week because I hate leaving you guys hanging like that.**

**And did I ever mention how awesome you reviewers are? If not, you're the best. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****mythology boy****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Daughter of Hades422****, ****Perseus12****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****the ghost king****, ****candy0304****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****Amazing-Anna'beth'1****, ****...it****, ****syl1629****, ****thalico****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****MelRose520****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Firehawk97****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****bubbly chick**

**If any of you think I do actually own PJO, think again.**

**Percy POV**

I can't say I was surprised to walk into my apartment and find Annabeth furiously doing homework on a Friday night. It was kind of ridiculous, but not at all shocking. If there is one thing I had learned about her since she moved in, it's that she refuses to miss a homework assignment or hand in one that isn't to her high standards. It caused me to question how she had a social life, yet I wasn't going to be the one to dare and mention that to her face.

"Why are you doing all of that crap now?" I asked as I plopped down on the couch next to her.

"It's due Monday," she said pointedly, looking at me as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So," I countered. "You have all weekend to do it. Why not worry about it on Sunday?"

She turned her attention back to the variety of papers laid out on the coffee table, "Because that would be procrastinating. And I need as much time as possible to work on all of this. I have to write an eight page paper on water! Seriously, how much can you say about water?" I had never seen her this stressed before, and it was kind of freaking me out. As a result, I decided to make her procrastinate.

Standing up and grabbing each of our jackets, I told her, "Get up, we're going out."

I got a puzzled look in return, "What are you talking about? I have all this work to do and if I don't-" She got cut off as her jacket that I threw at her collided with her face.

"You need to stop worrying so much," I said.

Instead of agreeing to come though, she simply sat there stubbornly, "No."

"Fine then."

With that, I went back to the couch, grabbed her, and threw her over my shoulder.

"Percy!" she shrieked and pounded my back. "Put me down or I swear I'll-"

"Kill me?" I supplied as I started carrying her out of the apartment and toward the elevator. "Gee, I haven't heard that one before."

My sarcasm wasn't really helping her mood though, "Percy, you'd better sleep with one eye open." She kept punching my back and I'll admit it hurt, but I could tell she wasn't putting all of her effort into escaping. If she really wanted to, she probably could've already beaten me up and been working on her stupid paper about water again. As much as I love water, I wouldn't want that love to get killed for me by some stupid paper.

I forced her into the backseat of my car and made sure to hit the child lock button on my keys. I had to unlock and lock the car really fast as I got into the driver's seat.

"I don't even get shotgun?" she grumbled.

Shrugging, I put my seatbelt on, "There's no child locks on the passenger door. I couldn't risk you escaping."

The car ride was filled with silence. I was seriously starting to think she was giving me the silent treatment as if we were five. Finally, we pulled up to the arcade I had been looking for. You're all probably thinking that that is sort of childish, but I was intending on taking her to one of the back rooms where they have a pool table. I remember bringing Thalia here to play pool once and we had a great time.

"Why did you drag me here?" she whined as we walked past the rows of shooting games and claw machines.

I didn't respond until we reached the room with the pool table. Handing her a pool stick, I told her, "Rack 'em up."

She gave me a funny look before setting up all of the balls and saying, "You break."

I hit the cue ball into the triangle formation of the other balls and didn't get a single one in. Either I lack all skill or I have awful luck. I was hoping for the latter.

She attempted to suppress a grin, "Why did you bring me here to play this if you aren't any good?"

After thinking for a second, I responded, "It probably wasn't my best plan. I just figured it would get your mind off of all that homework."

Since she found this to be a good enough answer, she continued to beat my ass in pool. Considering she only missed maybe one shot, she sunk the eight ball in what seemed like no time at all. I checked my watch and found that we had been playing for about an hour though. We found a set of chairs and decided to sit for a little.

"Did it work?" I asked.

She seemed to snap herself out of a trance, "I'm sorry, what?"

"My master plan," I reminded her. "Did it work?"

With a laugh, she assured me, "It was as simple as plans come, but it did work. Thank you."

I looked into her stormy grey eyes, "No problem." Even though she was no longer screaming about homework, I could tell something was still bothering her. "Something's still bothering you though."

She didn't even try to lie, "Yeah. I've just had a lot on my mind."

"About Luke?" I had heard they broke up, yet I hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk to her since.

Bringing two fingers to each of her temples, she rubbed them soothingly, "Yep. We had some…issues. It was mostly on my part. He forgave me, but he's not exactly happy with me. And he asked me to leave him alone, so I can't even go talk to him."

I nodded, "That would explain why he keeps texting Thalia. She says he's bugging out and driving her nuts. But you're the only other person close to him so she's trying to help him as much as she can."

"That would make sense. Did she say anything about why we broke up though? Did she know if Luke mentioned any…motives?"

Even though that confused me, I replied, "No. She said Luke wasn't even saying much which was what was bothering her the most. I won't pry though."

She grinned, "Thanks. For everything."

"Like I said, no problem," I held out my hand and helped her up. "Just try to avoid drama for now."

"I seem to be prone to it." I definitely knew how that felt. Thalia was still worrying me and I was afraid we were going to start fighting again. I really didn't want to go back to that, but it's not exactly something I could help.

"You're not the only one," I assured her. She started to head for the exit, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Her eyebrow shot up, "Your car. I thought we were leaving since we finished our game."

A smile spread across my face, "Not yet. We still have one part left to de-stressing you."

"What?"

I walked her over to the Dance Dance Revolution machine in the part of the arcade with more of the games.

She laughed, "I love this game. Even though I absolutely suck at it."

That caused me to set off into a fit of laughter, "Have you seen how clumsy I am? You can't possibly be worse than me."

And I was right. If we hadn't played on the mode where you couldn't fail out, I would've every time. One round I even got a zero score because I fell of the mat at the beginning of the song. I was too busy laughing at myself to go back on and play that song. Annabeth wasn't that great either and kept getting low scores, but I could tell she was having fun, especially when I fell off. It wasn't the kind of night I would've really planned out, but it made her happy. And that's what friends are for. Right?

**I'm back from Maine! And it was definitely an interesting weekend to say the least. My family's just an odd group of people that don't collaborate all too well as a whole. But then again, what family actually does?**

**Anyway, I hope you all loved the chapter, as I usually say. This wasn't really extreme Percabeth, but since they aren't together there wasn't too much I could do. And as the tension builds, I'm expecting the climax of the story to come soon. This story is probably (or at least it's my plan so far) going to be about twenty-five chapters.**

**So, tell me what you think about the chapter. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****CarolinaEirasSa****, ****LauraBerry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****syl1629****, ****atlchick313****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****candy0304****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Nowhere Is Darkness****, ****Snowslash****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****...it****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****MelRose520****, ****courixoxo****, ****the ghost king****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Lycans****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****books are better than movies****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaMellarkfan11****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****jackseaweedjackson****, ****Daughter of Hades422****, ****alonegirl13****, ****bubbly chick**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

I know it's not always that common to go out on school nights, but I kind of wish I had that Wednesday night. Since winter was rolling in fast, it was already dark out even though it was only like six-thirty. I had just finished grabbing some dinner for the kitchen when I was going to head back to the den in the apartment to study since that was where I left my school stuff. Just as I shut the den door behind me, I heard Percy and Thalia come in through the front door. They sounded like they were laughing and happy, which I must selfishly say it brought down my mood a bit.

Even though Luke was great to me, I broke up with him because I still had my crush on Percy. It wasn't going away and I was to the point where it seemed to only be getting worse. Watching him with Thalia would've been too much for me, but being able to hear them wasn't much better. And yes, I did end up eavesdropping on them (which has apparently become quite a habit for me). The springs of the couch squeaked as they plopped down on it.

"Thanks for dinner," I heard Thalia say to Percy.

"No problem," he replied. "I just feel bad that it kind of got ruined by those obnoxious girls behind us chatting so loudly the entire time."

She laughed, "I wonder what school they're from. They kept talking about some pregnant freshman."

He chuckled a little too, "Yeah and they were practically advertising it to everyone in the restaurant."

"Don't worry though, I still had fun."

There were a couples seconds of silence with only the TV as background noise. Percy finally broke it as the show went to commercial (I could tell it was a commercial because I could hear Billy Mays yelling), "I love you."

"I love you too," she responded and I could hear them kiss.

As their kissing started to spiral toward making out, I tried furiously to drown out the noise. I was tempted to go yell at them to get a room, but I don't think they even knew I was in the apartment. Without even realizing it, I had started to carve a hole in my math notebook with my pencil out of jealousy and annoyance.

It was good minute or two before the noise died down and I heard Percy growl, "Thalia." He sounded angry so I did the natural thing; I cracked open the door slightly to see what was going on.

She leapt up from the couch to get away from him and stammered, "Percy, I don't really want to fight so please-"

He stood as well and used his slight height advantage to tower over her, "Tell me where you got those stitches and why you needed them."

Her eyes narrowed, "You don't have play this stupid game. We both know where I got them from." Even I knew where they came from. Percy had told me that their fights about her mom were bad, yet I already really didn't like where this was going.

"What did that bitch do to you now?" he yelled at her.

"It wasn't even her this time!" she was trying to match him now, screaming almost as loud.

"Then who was it? A ninja? A unicorn? Or maybe it was a magic pixie?"

"You're being ridiculous! It was one of her damn drunk boyfriends!"

Percy seemed to only get more defensive when he found out it was a guy instead, "What did he do to you?"

She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what he meant, "He didn't rape me Percy. He has my whore of a mother to screw around with. My mom thought I was in the way one their little 'date' by being home, so she let him hit me." She wasn't yelling anymore, she just seemed tired of this fighting. It took me until then to notice the thick line running across her cheek. There were still remnants of the cover-up that once hid it, but I guessed Percy must've smeared it off while they were making out.

Percy however, was still shouting, "How the hell did he give you a scar like that? I doubt that was just from a fist!"

Thalia didn't answer. She must've known the answer would've only upset him more.

This just pissed him off though, "Don't avoid the question! TELL ME!" I had never seen him so angry before. If this was how he always was when they got into arguments, I don't know how Thalia handled it. At the same time though, it was almost like I still just wanted to go and comfort him.

She muttered something angrily, but I couldn't hear it and Percy apparently couldn't either. He waited for her to respond at an audible volume. At last she grumbled a little louder, "A belt."

Percy still seemed confused though, "What are you talking about?"

"The guy hit me with his belt. He whipped it across my face once and it split my cheek open. Happy?"

He was no longer yelling, and he stepped toward her but she stepped back.

"Don't come near me," she snarled.

He sighed, "Thals, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have started yelling, I know this sucks for you." She didn't reply, so he continued, "But why can't you go for help?"

"You know why," she snapped. "I don't have anywhere else to go. They would probably put me in some orphanage far from you guys. I would rather be happy and in danger here than safe yet miserable somewhere else."

He went to say something, but she cut him off, "Why do you want me gone so badly? You say love me, yet telling me to leave isn't really showing it."

"Because I don't want you to keep getting hurt," he explained. "And I feel bad because sometimes you make it sound like I'm the only reason you're staying."

She shook her head, "You're big reason as to why I stay, but I wouldn't want to leave the others. I've been best friends with Annabeth since we were like seven. I'm not going to just ditch her either." I smiled knowing that not only was she talking happily about our friendship, but also that she wasn't crazy enough about Percy that he was her only reason. That sounds really selfish, but I'm not going to lie and say that a part of me didn't think that.

"If we ever broke up," he nearly whispered, "Would you ever consider leaving?"

Her glare was murderous, "Are you seriously about to break up with me like that? Using my mother as an excuse for us to break up? She has nothing to do with how we feel about each other!"

Only now did he seem to realize how poorly that came out, "No! That's not what I meant. Look, I'm sorry, that didn't come out how I planned. I don't want to break up with you. I was just speaking hypothetically. I'm just trying to see how much I weigh in toward-"

"Do you mean that you're trying to see how much I care about you?" she accused. When he said nothing, she took it as a yes, "Of course I care about you. I love you. This is just so confusing sometimes which is why I hate it when we fight. Even though I have the therapist, you're the only other one I told. Sometimes I just need that person who isn't going to flip out over everything I say."

"Like I always do?" he guessed.

She nodded. He went over to hug her, and this time she allowed him. She put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. She left a few minutes later. With their fighting now done, I shut the door quietly and returned to studying. And as much as I am ashamed of it, I truly wish they had broken up that night.

**I know many of you were probably hoping Thalia and Percy would break up here but I decided not to do that. I just love building tension this way. Also, we can all see how strained their relationship is getting. I was originally going to put this fight in one of their POV's, but I figured Annabeth's would be a better spin for it.**

**The whole concept of Thalia getting hit with a belt idea may have been random, but I got this from one of my friends. His parents are divorced and he went to stay at his dad's for the weekend a couple weeks ago. I've met his dad before and he's usually a pretty calm, cool guy. My friend had to wake up early though and when he was getting up, his dad started hitting him with his belt. My friend has red marks left on his legs and stomach from it. This just goes to show that stuff like this does happen to people which is why I put this in.**

**On that not-so-happy note, I hope you loved the chapter and please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****lilslybud****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****iDream Out Loud****, ****storyteller1425****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****ixdookiie****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****bubbly chick****, ****...it****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****candy0304****, ****Perseus12****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****syl1629****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****the ghost king****, ****MelRose520****, ****Ducky176****, ****Grey'sAnatomyDemigod****, ****team books****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****courixoxo**

**I don't really understand why I **_**still **_**have to put this, but I don't own PJO.**

**Luke POV**

"Do you think Bianca would go out with me?" I asked Thalia as we stood at her locker. She was my ride home since my car's taillights randomly blew out. It's not a huge repair, but I'm still not legally allowed to drive without them working.

"Nico's sister?" she questioned as she threw a few books in her locker.

I nodded, "Don't you know her from archery club? Or through Nico?"

She shrugged, "You can try. Why do you want to ask a girl out anyway? I thought you were still traumatized from your break-up with Annabeth."

My eyes narrowed, "I wasn't traumatized, I was angry. She used me."

"And do you still like her?" The question took me by a bit of a surprise. Because I did still like Annabeth, but I couldn't help getting pissed off every time she got brought up.

"That doesn't matter," I growled and locked my blues eyes onto hers.

Her eyebrow arched, "Oh, really? Because I'm pretty sure you do still like her. And if you were to ask another girl out, wouldn't you be doing exactly what Annabeth did to you?" I could find no argument for that, but it still ticked me off. I hated having the truth thrown right in my face.

"As if you're one to talk," I spat. "From what you've been telling me, I'm not so sure you should be the one going around giving love advice."

She slammed her locker shut, "Excuse me?"

"You know what I said."

Her glare was dangerously vicious. If I wasn't so stubborn, I probably would've freaked out and fled school grounds.

"Fine," she hissed, "But then don't come crying to me _again _if you screw up a relationship with some other girl?"

"No wonder you have relationship issues!" I shouted and stepped toward her aggressively.

For some odd reason, she totally panicked. A foreign flash of fear appeared in her eyes for just a moment. She stepped back so quickly she accidentally dropped one of her folders and the papers in it spilled out across the floor. I had never seen her so jumpy or almost afraid before. I didn't know what I did, but her reaction made me feel bad about our whole argument.

"Look, I'm sorry," I told her. That seems to be the only freakin' thing I tell girls.

She said nothing in response as she bent down and started picking up her stray papers.

"Thalia," I called, but she didn't respond yet again. I kept my voice gentle and level, "Look at me." She only turned her head further away. "What's wrong?"

She still did not respond at all until her papers were all collected and we stood again. Even then, she only muttered a small, "Thanks."

"No problem, I was kind of being a jerk anyway. Why did you panic like that though?"

"It's a long story," she summarized. "Just do me a favor and don't tell Percy about this. And I forgive you, you weren't exactly wrong either."

With that, she swiftly left. I didn't have a ride anymore, but that was troubling me the least. I couldn't figure out why she lost control of herself or why she didn't want me to tell Percy. What did he have to do with any of this?

Before I could think any further, Nico came up to me, "Hey, why are you staring into space like you've just been hit by a bus?"

I'll admit I felt a little awkward near him since I had just been considering asking his sister out less than five minutes earlier, "Um…well I guess you could just say I'm kind of confused."

He grinned, "I know how that feels. Come with me."

"Where?"

"Walk with me to my locker, I need to get stuff from it, and I need to talk to you."

"Okay," I agreed half-heartedly, still rather confused.

"So," I started awkwardly as we walked through the practically abandoned hallways, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He kept his head turned forward as he talked, "I'm just trying to figure some things out and I figured you're the best to ask."

Both of my eyebrows shot up in confusion, "Why on earth would I be the best person to talk to?"

"Think about it," he told me. "We are the two people who get a bunch of information dumped on us by the girls who seem to know what is going on the most. Thalia goes to you, Annabeth comes to me."

"I thought Thalia went to you too. Aren't you guys good friends?"

He let out a breath, "We are, but I've kind of made things a tad awkward between us."

"It's because you like her, don't you?" I asked out of the blue. I wasn't at all sure if he actually was or not, but I'd had my suspicions for a while.

His head snapped toward me in shock, "How did you know that? Did she tell you?"

I laughed a little, "She didn't tell me that. I was honestly just guessing. I had been wondering for a while if you did though. You look at her the same way I _still _do with Annabeth. Or the same way Annabeth-" I cut myself off, realizing I probably just said far too much. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. I flipped out at Thalia over nothing and I just nearly revealed Annabeth's secret. I may not be on happy terms with her, but I'm not a squealer.

"-looks at Percy," he finished for me and my eyes widened in shock. "She told me when I told her I liked Thalia. It was kind of an exchange."

"If she tells you everything," I said, "Then does she know what's been up with Thalia lately?" I figured Thalia probably spilled what was going on to Annabeth. Don't all girls tell each other everything? Anyway, if Annabeth told Nico, I might be able to find out what caused Thalia to panic like she did.

He tilted his head in confusion, "No. What are you talking about?"

I proceeded to tell him about the scene that had when on between me and her moments ago, "And she asked me not to tell Percy. What's with that?"

We had finally reached Nico's locker, which he was fiddling with the lock of, "I don't know. Annabeth told me she heard them fighting again. It's apparently pretty bad, but she won't tell me why. She says that she keeps hearing Percy at the angriest she's ever seen him."

"All I did was step toward her though," I mused aloud, "Do you think he's hitting her? It doesn't seem like him, but it would explain what happened."

He shook his head, "Annabeth would've mentioned it. She's been literally seeing their fights. And Thalia would've definitely dumped him if he did."

"Annabeth's been actually watching these arguments?" I thought Percy was just telling her about them or something.

"Yep," he pulled his backpack out of his locker and started dumping random stuff in, "Not to mention she's been 'comforting him' after almost every fight. I think they're starting to get too close for comfort if you ask me."

"Quite frankly," I told him, "I don't like where any of this is going."

He clapped me on the shoulder, "I don't like it either. Let's go, I can give you a ride if you need it."

So it turns out that the guy I figured I would rarely even talk to could actually relate to me the most. I guess friendships are weird like that.

**I personally loved this chapter, but I won't speak for all of you. I think Nico and Luke's personalities could make them good friends, but it definitely isn't common. Plus, we got their take on everything that's going on. And then there was Thalia's freak-out. I think it just goes to show how deep her abuse is actually running in her, but she tries not to show it. And we have found out that she and Percy have been having a lot more than just their argument from last chapter. And Annabeth's getting a bit too close to Percy. Hmm…very interesting.**

**Anyway, I hope you all loved the chapter as well. And I personally can't wait for the next chapter. I already know what's going to happen and I wish I could post sooner. Indoor track has pretty much taken over my life during the week though. Oh well, I want to try and post on Saturday or maybe even Friday night if I get home early enough.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****jahfreenalam****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****bubbly chick****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****cookiecrumbs976****, ****candy0304****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****booklover930****, ****Adonai63****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****lilslybud****, ****damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****deathoughtkid****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****Ducky176****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****MelRose520****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****courixoxo****, ****storyteller1425****, ****the ghost king****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****kldsn123****, ****Midnight4200****, ****KairacahraFlower Goddess****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****Perseus12****, ****dreammanize****, ****atlchick313**

**Disclaimer: Last time I checked, my name isn't Rick Riordan.**

**Percy POV**

Everyone in my math class whooped and hollered as the bell went off that day. It was the first day back after holiday break, so everyone was glad to finally be free. Not to mention they made us go back on a Friday. It had been a long, torturous day back. I practically sprinted out into the hallway and I eventually found Thalia.

Things had gotten pretty odd with us. Over the holidays we were really happy with each other, but our fighting was just becoming so constant. It seemed like when we were actually happy around each other I really did love her, yet those times were just becoming more and more rare. I was happy to spot the necklace I had bought her for Christmas around her neck. Neither of us are really good with gift shopping, so we both just went to the mall and bought each other necklaces. I bought her a silver lightning bolt necklace with little blue stones that she thought looked cool, while she bought me a silver trident necklace with tiny sea-green stones that I happily wore.

"Hey," I greeted as I put my arm around her shoulders.

She smiled up at me, "Hey." She was fishing around for something her bag, which peaked my curiosity.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Tampons," she said and I stiffened. That was definitely not the discussion I wanted to have most with my girlfriend. She laughed, "I'm kidding. I'm looking for my phone. I need to call my therapist and cancel my appointment for tonight."

I relaxed at the fact that I didn't have to talk about periods with her, but my eyebrows furrowed together, "You really shouldn't cancel your appointment. Why are you?"

"Luke still hasn't gotten his taillights fixed so he asked if he could borrow my car. I told him he could, forgetting I had a session. He needs it more though; it's to go to a college for an interview. I'm not going to take my car back for just another therapy session."

I really didn't like the idea of her missing a session though; they were the only help she was allowing.

"I'll take you," the words just kind of stumbled out of my mouth. "My swim practice got canceled because the coach is sick. I'll drop you off and pick you up when you're done. How long is your session?"

She sighed, "Ever since she found out about the belt fiasco, she's had me coming for two hours. It feels like forever."

"I have no problem taking you," I assured her. "So, I'll pick you up at like six-thirty."

She seemed thankful, "Sounds good."

I was right on time to pick her up later and I dropped her off at the place with a good five minutes to spare. The area where this place was didn't seem too friendly though, which I found ironic. Why would you put a place for scarred people in an area where people become scarred? Is that supposed to be some sort of marketing technique?

"Thanks," Thalia said as she climbed out of the passenger seat after giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "You'll be here to pick me up at nine?"

I nodded, "No need to worry. I will be here as soon as you walk out of that building."

She disappeared into the building and I drove back to my apartment. The drive took about a half an hour, but even with me having to leave early to pick her up I still had a good hour that I could spend at home. I walked into my living room to find Annabeth sprawled out on the couch reading, you guessed it, a book that looked like it weighed two tons. And for some extra excitement, she had the Discovery Channel blaring from the TV. What an exciting way to spend a Friday night.

"You don't get out much since you broke up with Luke, do you?" I teased.

I was expecting some sort of sarcastic comeback in return, but I just got a cold glare, "I've told you a thousand times I don't want to talk about that."

I put my hands up in surrender as I went and sat next to her on the couch, "I was just kidding. But why is that such a forbidden topic?"

Her eyes narrowed further, "I already told you I don't want to talk about it."

"But why?" She said nothing, so I pressed on, "Why can't you tell me? I doubt it has anything to do with me."

Even though she kept silent, I could tell I'd guessed something right.

"It _does _have to do with me," I continued, turning off the TV. "How?"

"I never thought you could be so blind," she muttered under her breath.

"Then stop beating around the bush," I told her. "Did you break up with him because of me? And if so, why?"

She seemed bothered and uncomfortable by my interrogating, but I had to know. She threw her book down on the coffee table, "It would be wrong for me to tell you."

"I don't care," I explained. "If it involves me I have a right to know."

That snapped something in her and she started yelling, "Just think about it Percy! You're not _that _stupid! If you actually just thought about it for once, I guarantee you could figure it out!" She sounded so tense and stressed as if something that had been stretching inside her for so long had snapped at last.

So I actually thought about. I thought about what I could possibly have to do with her breaking up with Luke. I thought about the way she'd blush when I'd complement her. I thought about how she would always tend to be quieter when I was around Thalia. I thought about how strained her voice would get when she gave me relationship advice. Then realization came crashing down on me.

"Annabeth," I said almost inaudibly, "Do you have a crush on me?" I was kind of nervous since I was never so good with emotional stuff. The idea of her liking me scared me though…because I wasn't sure I could honestly say I didn't like her back.

Confession time. I had a tiny crush on Annabeth when we were younger. The feelings had kind of dispelled (or so I thought) as I got older. Then Thalia and I got close one summer and I asked her out not too long after. But now here I was with my old crush quite possibly having feelings for me.

She brushed her hair back from her face, "Percy, I've _had _a crush on you. For a long time."

"How long?"

She bit her lip, "Five years."

My jaw dropped. How does someone deal with a crush and not acting on it for so long? I'd explode. Not only that, but she'd had to see me with her best friend almost every day. And I hadn't exactly discouraged the definite flirting that had been going on between us.

"Am I really that attractive?" I joked.

Her laugh made me relax a little, "I'll admit, for a long time I didn't know what I really liked about you that much. Especially since we used to argue over the dumbest things. Sure I found your clumsy and goofball self cute in a way, but I didn't actually figure it out until you let me move in here. It was how much you cared that I loved most."

My mouth twitched up in a grin, "Thanks, I guess."

"The whole reason I never said anything was because I was too nervous until last year. The day before I planned on telling you was the day I heard you and Thalia were dating. You are my two best friends and I tried to respect that. But especially now that you know about this, I don't think I can live here anymore." Well that was a bit of a bomb-dropping.

Words just started pouring out of my mouth, "Annabeth, you can't leave. The only place you could go is back to your asshole parents. You're right, I do care about you. Which is why I'm not letting you go back there," I took her hands. "Please stay."

I could see the slightest blush appear on her cheeks, "I shouldn't. It just wouldn't be right. I already feel like I'm mooching off of you guys and-"

That was when I did the dumbest thing in my entire life. And this is coming from the kid who ate glue thinking it was icing. To shut her up, I mashed my mouth against hers. I have no idea what made me do it. I think it was partly because I did have feelings for her for a while, but nothing had really triggered them since we were younger. Maybe I was just pent up from fighting with Thalia (and I'm not trying to justify either of these as excuses). Whatever the reason was, I'm not sure. She returned the kiss and I instantly felt bad. Of course she would return it, hell, she's been hoping for it for five years. And I was the idiot who started it.

As if we both processed everything at the same time, we abruptly pulled away from each other in unison shouting, "What the hell just happened?"

"W-we shouldn't have…" she stuttered, "That shouldn't have happened."

"I know," words were catching in my throat. "I'm not going to lie and say that I might not have feelings for you. Either way though, I have to tell Thalia about this. She'll probably break up with me, but she has to know. The guilt would kill me if I didn't tell her. I already feel bad enough."

It was a good few minutes of silence before she sighed, "Percy…I wouldn't get too comfortable with the idea of having feelings for me. Even if you do break up with Thalia, I'm still not quite sure I could date you. She's my best friend and you guys have been dating for like a year. Just don't get your hopes up. Trust me, it sucks."

"I understand," I assured her before I ran out the door. I had to get away from her. Away from the stress. Away from the confusion. But I couldn't shake the guilt following me.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

So I ended up being twenty minutes late to pick Thalia up. I had been driving aimlessly for a while before that, trying to figure out how I would tell her. I ended up with no plan, just the knowledge that I would have to make something up on the spot.

"Hey," she said as she climbed in the passenger seat. "What happened to being here the second I walked out the door?"

"Sorry," I grumbled. I meant it, but there was too much going on in my head to sound cheery.

She laughed a little, "Relax, I'm just kidding. My session went a little late anyway."

I didn't have any sort of response, so I simply gestured to the bag of fries from Burger King I had picked up while driving randomly, "Want some? I can't eat anymore."

With shrug, she took a few, "Thanks."

We were driving in silence for a while. For her, it probably seemed like a comfortable silence. For me? It was probably the tensest silence I had ever experienced. And that was when the little guilt voices began torturing my mind:

_Tell her._

_She'll find out eventually anyway._

_You kissed her best friend, shouldn't she know?_

_You've already done enough; you shouldn't hurt her more by hiding it._

"Percy!" Thalia shouted and pointed at the road. I hadn't even noticed I had started to swerve into the other lane. My mind was just so distracted that driving seemed to be the last thing I was thinking of.

Jerking back into the right lane, I blurted out, "I kissed Annabeth." Just blurting it out hadn't been in any of my original plans, but I did anyway.

Her head snapped to look at me, "What?"

"We were talking and well…" I tried to find something to say that actually made sense. "Look, I'm really sorry and she is too. And-"

Her eyes focused on the road and it was evident she didn't want to talk about this at the moment, "Let's just talk about this when you're not driving. You really need to watch the road."

I hadn't even noticed I had begun to swerve again.

Fixing that, I started explaining again, "Look Thals, I don't know why I did it or-"

"Percy!" she screamed as I ran a red light into a four-way intersection.

I did everything to try and turn and dodge the other car. I was too late though. I didn't react in time. And so the Lexus ES 350 coming from the right crashed directly into the passenger side of my car.

**Thoughts? I warned you all the climax was close.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****fidelisdy****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****Perseus12****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****the unnecessary****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****TheJazzyDolphin****, ****ChildrenOfTheGreatGods****, ****AnaidT****, ****waterpoloplayer****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****SunlightWriter****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****bubbly chick****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Ducky176****, ****Imakiller54321****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****Owl of the Sea****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****courixoxo****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****HawkstarZero****, ****Nowhere Is Darkness****, ****brutallyhonest96****, ****candy0304****, ****MelRose520****, ****larkgrace****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****percyfan15****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****StephBear****, ****lilslybud****, ****thalico****, ****Anna Jackson****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Kimoura.J****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****Iggy McAllister****, ****CarolinaEirasSa****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****ilyfreo4eva****, ****wizegirl101****, ****kldsn123**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

The Lexus ES 350 that had crashed into us was going so fast I'm surprised my car didn't flip over. The air bag exploded out of steering wheel, knocking the wind out of me. I had heard the window shatter on the passenger side and I looked in Thalia's direction. I'll spare you the details, they aren't pretty. Not to mention that side of the dashboard had collapsed as well. Fumbling with the handle of my door, I managed to tumble out of the car into the road. Traffic had stopped all around and some lady was calling 911 on her cell phone.

I was violently coughing in the road, trying to get air back into my lungs. Some blood came up out of my mouth too. Spots danced in my vision and I wanted to black out. I felt guilty enough about kissing Annabeth, but now Thalia could've been dying because of me. Ambulance sirens wailed as they came in the intersection. Before I could check on Thalia, I was hauled to my feet and placed on a stretcher. They started strapping me down and I couldn't see her. I was pulled into the ambulance and before they pulled Thalia in, I lost consciousness.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I woke up in a hospital bed, with the bright lights on the ceiling assaulting my eyes. For a second, I forgot why I was there. When I remembered, I immediately wished I could forget again. Sitting up abruptly, I looked around frantically for Thalia.

"Hey kid," some doctor called from off to my right. He was sitting on some stool, filling out paperwork. "You're free to go. You got lucky; you just passed out and were a little disoriented."

"Th-The girl who was with me in the car," I stuttered. "Is she okay?"

He shrugged, "I wish I could tell you. I was only assigned to make sure you stayed stable in your sleep. You've only been out for about a half an hour."

"Um…thanks," I said before leaping off the bed and running out toward the lobby (thankfully, there were convenient little signs pointing the way).

I walked out there to find pretty much all of my friends waiting out there. A call must've been sent to my house and Annabeth probably picked it up. She was standing there along with Nico, Luke, and Rachel. I was surprised that she hadn't called up more of our friends as well. Annabeth was talking to Nico, and she seemed to be apologizing. Nico only seemed to be getting angrier by the second.

Everyone seemed to notice my presence at the same time. While most of them seemed elated that I was okay, Nico's eyes were burning with hate and anger. And then he charged me. He punched me square in the jaw and I staggered back. He came at me again, this time snap-kicking me to my shoulder. I let out a growl. I was already having a really sucky night; I wasn't in the mood to have him beating me up. Even if I deserved it. I tackled him to the floor and punched him in the face. He responded by slamming the heel of his hand into my throat. While I doubled over wheezing for air for the second time that night, Luke came over and pulled him back. Annabeth picked me up from the floor and pulled me away from Nico.

"How could you do that to her?" Nico shouted at me. By this point I was quite surprised security hadn't thrown us out.

"What are you talking about?" I snarled.

"Don't play stupid!" he roared back. He pointed at Annabeth, "She told me everything! I guess you thought Thalia just wasn't good enough for you! Cause you're just so freakin' amazing!" Every word he said was like a slap to my face. He was all wrong, but I felt too guilty to come up with an actual argument.

I went to try and attack him again, and this time both Annabeth and Rachel had to hold me back.

Luke let go of Nico and went to stand in between us, "Will someone please explain what the hell is going on here? I just got a call from Annabeth about twenty minutes ago saying Thalia was in a car accident. Not to mention I'm exceedingly confused as to how that happened though considering I have her car."

Nico continued to glare at me, "Why don't you ask big-shot over there? Apparently driving is his Achilles' heel." I nearly went and decked the kid again.

"Nico, please stop," Rachel pleaded with him. "We're just trying to figure out what is going on."

Clearly not wanting to talk, Nico went and slumped down in a random chair. I was tempted to join him so I wouldn't have to explain either. I didn't get off that easily though. I had to stand there and give all of them a detailed description of the accident. By the end of my story, my phone was going off. It was my mom calling.

I handed my phone to Annabeth, "Can you please talk to her instead? I don't think I can take her panicking."

Annabeth seemed reluctant, but she answered the phone, "Hello…Yes, he's right next to me…Yes, he's okay…No, you can come whenever you get off work…We're just waiting for news anyway…Yes, I'll be sure to update you…Okay…Bye Ms. Jackson." It didn't seem like it had been much of a conversation, but I knew my mom was probably using her panicky voice that probably would've sent me over the edge then. Annabeth handed my phone back, "She was just checking to see if you were both alright."

I put my forehead in my hands, "I am. It sucks that I can't say the same for Thalia."

That was when Rachel smacked me upside the back of my head.

"What the hell?" I stammered. I was I everyone's punching bag for the day?

She looked me dead in the eye, "Stop talking like that. Being negative and pessimistic isn't going to do you any good. If anything it will only make things worse. Whatever happens, you can't act like this forever."

I tried to protest, but Annabeth spoke over me, "She has a point. I feel bad too, yet there are other things to think about. We have to tell Thalia that we kissed."

Slumping further down in my chair, I grumbled, "And I guess I have to break it off with her. If she even lives that long."

The two girls sighed at the fact that I wasn't giving up on my negative thinking. It's hard not to think like that though when you may have just caused someone's death. And it most certainly wasn't helping that Nico was glaring at me from the other side of the lobby. I could understand his frustration though. He wanted someone to blame and be angry with for all of this, and I'll admit I had every right to be targeted. We all took turns sleeping in the lobby with one of us awake in case a doctor came with news. I was partially afraid to sleep during Nico's watch though, hoping he wouldn't kill me. It was already morning when a doctor finally came into the lobby.

"Are any of you here for a Ms. Grace?" he asked. We all stood, some of us just waking up. Before he could continue I seriously debated running out of the room.

**Many of you probably aren't happy I still haven't told you if Thalia was okay, but I plan on updating on Sunday. Also, I almost left you with an even worse cliffy that I will explain next chapter. And for those of you who aren't happy that Nico and Percy got in a fight, can you really blame them?Anyway, I still hope you loved the chapter, as I always wish you do.**

**One other thing. I'd like to give a little shout-out thanks to ARedRose4Me for nominating my previous story, Waves of Wisdom for the 'Best AU' Verita. I couldn't get a message out to you guys earlier to go and vote for me if you think I deserved, but oh well. It isn't a huge deal to me whether I win or not. Being nominated was enough for me.**

**Anyway, I hope to see you all next chapter :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****candy0304****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****SunlightWriter****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Perseus12****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****wizegirl101****, ****bubbly chick****, ****Dark Phantom 96****, ****ARedRose4Me****, ****Athenagal22****, ****percyfan15****, ****writerkid08****, ****MelRose520****, ****Amazing-Anna'beth'1****, ****storyteller1425****, ****courixoxo****, ****bookADDICT6****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Firehawk97****, ****TwilightFan59****, ****thalico****, ****deary****, ****cookiecrumbs976**

**I own a copy of all of the PJO books, but I unfortunately don't own the series itself.**

**Nico POV**

"Are any of you here for a Ms. Grace?" I faintly heard a doctor ask through my haze of sleep. That caused me to shoot up from my seat so fast though that I nearly fell over.

Percy was the one to speak for us, "We all are." As awful as it may sound, I was kind of happy to see the bruise his jaw was now sporting. I felt like he was to blame. He kissed Annabeth, thus cheating on the girl I like, and then runs a red light, possibly killing the girl I like. I just can't win with him.

The doctor sighed, "I'm sorry. The damage was too much to repair. She died about an hour ago." **(AN: This was the cliffy I almost left you with last chapter, so be happy I chose not to)**

If it was even possible, my blood ran even colder. I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of Thalia being dead. I couldn't picture what it would be like not seeing her almost every day. I already started to miss all of the times we hung out, and I wished for nothing more than to simply fall back into one of those memories. My head instantly began to pound as my heart skipped a few beats. For a second I thought I was going into shock. It's incredible the things death can do to a person. Even though I tried to suppress them, tears ran down my face.

The others still just seemed in flat-out shock, and Rachel was the one to break the silence, "She really died?"

With a nod, the doctor explained, "Her body couldn't fight the damage. There was too much alcohol in her system for it to fight back properly and-"

"Wait a minute," Percy cut in. "She wasn't drinking."

The doctor's eyebrow quirked up, "Yes, she was. She may have kept it a secret, but she most certainly was."

"No," I stated coldly. "She hates the stuff. She would always avoid it. Which may sound weird considering she was a teenager going out to parties but-"

"Teenager?" the doctor asked as he looked through some papers on his clipboard.

Annabeth gasped and I knew she had figured out what was going on.

"You're talking about a woman, not the teenage girl from the accident?" she asked. He nodded so she continued, "Is there any chance she's the mother of the teenage girl who was in the accident?"

The doctor's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but he shuffled through even more papers. "Yes," he said at last. "That is a very unfortunate happening. The mother died, but according to these papers, the girl is alive. I'm afraid I don't have much better news than that though." Alive was good enough for me. But Thalia's own mother just died in the accident? What was with all of the cruel irony going on?

"Can we see the girl soon?" Luke asked.

"She just got out of surgery not that long ago," the doctor claimed. "She's still asleep, but you can go in one at a time. It could be a while before she wakes up though. So if one of you would like to follow me, I can bring you to her room."

No one even questioned who should go as I silently followed the doctor down the hall. I don't know if it was because they didn't want to mess with me or simply because they thought I actually should. Either way was fine be me though. After hearing Thalia was dead (even though that was found to be false), I found that I needed to see for myself she was alive.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

Movies are bull crap. They always portray things their way, not by how things actually are in reality. They always make the person sound like they still look stunning after they've nearly died. This may sound mean, but Thalia looked far from stunning when I saw her. She didn't look ugly, but she looked weak and fragile and a bunch of other words I would never normally use to describe her. Considering she was mostly under the sheets of the hospital bed, I could only see her face and neck. Her dark hair was pushed back and tangled and she had breathing tubes running into her nose. Just on her face she had what looked like a pretty faded gash on her cheek, a cut above her left eyebrow and a bruise on her upper jaw. Thankfully her neck seemed undamaged for the most part.

She had been asleep for about three hours since I was in there. I had spent most of that time sleeping and at one point I left the hospital quick to go get my old guitar. I didn't know where hers would be in her house, but I figured she would want a guitar to kill time in the hospital. When she was strong enough to actually play though.

There's another thing movies screw up though: the waking moment. When a person wakes up from major surgery, they aren't really sane. They're cracked out on pain meds. They tend to imagine things or see things differently and they babble about stupid stuff. So the moment Thalia woke up definitely wasn't what I bargained for.

Her eyes flittered open, yet they seemed unfocused, "Well, who are you? And why are you in my kitchen?" Kitchen? I don't even want to know how these things come about.

"Thalia, it's me, Nico," I tried to tell her calmly. "And you're in the hospital, not a kitchen."

"Oh, I recognize you," she claimed and my mood lifted a little. "You're from that TV show. The Jersey Beach?" And there goes my good mood.

"Do you mean the Jersey Shore?" I clarified and she nodded only slightly. Jersey Shore? Oh, I get it. I'm Italian and so is pretty much everyone on that show. I don't have a fake tan though.

"Haha," I replied sarcastically even though I doubt she would be able to pick up on sarcasm at the moment. "And I'm not from that show."

She seemed confused, "Really? That sucks. Because all the guys on that show have abs. And abs are really hot." I'll admit I really wanted to laugh at this because I had never heard her say anything like it. "Don't you think so?" Okay, never mind. Things just got awkward for me.

"Yeah sure," I remarked sarcastically once again. "You should sleep though."

"But sleeping is boring," she whined.

I shook my head in slight annoyance, "You need your rest though. So please, get some sleep."

"Fine," she pouted. She couldn't have been too upset about it though because she was fast asleep a minute later. Part of me was glad she was asleep so I wouldn't have to deal with her cracked out behavior. I figured she'd be more stable the next time she woke up though.

I got bored a while later, so I decided to try and play my guitar. My dad had taught me to play years ago before he died and my mom had taught me to sing. I hadn't done either since their death though. I figured it was about time to get over it. I wasn't a huge fan of singing, but I had loved playing guitar. I put in an ear bud from my iPod and started playing along to random songs. Most of them sounded pretty bad until I came across the first song I had learned to play on guitar: Collide by Howie Day. And even though I didn't really want to, I started singing along without even realizing it.

_The dawn is breaking  
A light shining through  
You're barely waking  
And I'm tangled up in you  
Yeah_

I'm open, you're closed  
Where I follow, you'll go  
I worry I won't see your face  
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme  
Out of the doubt that fills my mind  
I somehow find  
You and I collide

I'm quiet you know  
You make a first impression  
I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the stars refuse to shine  
Out of the back you fall in time  
I somehow find  
You and I collide

Don't stop here  
I lost my place  
I'm close behind

Even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme  
Out of the doubt that fills your mind  
You finally find  
You and I collide

You finally find  
You and I collide  
You finally find  
You and I collide

As I faded out the music, I was surprised to hear Thalia speak.

"I don't know much about singing," she commented, "But you're not half-bad with a guitar, di Angelo. But you played a B instead of a B major in the intro and you were a little above tempo during the chorus." Even half-dead, she's still a critic.

I wanted to pounce on her with questions, yet I managed to suppress them and joke back, "It's nice to see the accident didn't affect your hearing."

She shot me a smile, but it was weak, "That's probably one of the few things it didn't damage."

Walking over to her bed, I plopped down on the side so I was next to her, "I'm glad to see you're okay though."

A dry laugh escaped her lips and I vaguely noticed that she winced from doing so, "I'm not sure 'okay' is a fitting term. I'm alive though. I guess I should just be grateful for that."

"I was so worried," I admitted. "Are you in a lot of pain right now?"

"A bit yeah. The pain meds are still somewhat in affect though, so I'm fine as long as I don't move. Can I ask you something?"

There were a lot of things she probably could've had to ask me, "Sure."

"Why can't I feel my legs?" Out of all the questions she could've asked, that was one of the ones I was hoping she would put off. The doctor had explained this to me while I was walking with him to her room.

I sighed, "I'm sorry Thals. When the dashboard collapsed, a lot of damage was done to them. And they had to try and get you out of the car around the dashboard, which resulted in a bit more damage. Your legs were paralyzed. They were able to operate fast enough though. The paralysis should only be temporary now, but you will probably have to learn to walk again."

"Wow," was all she had to say. "My life sucks."

We both laughed a bit, yet she was trying not to because it hurt. I knew I had to tell her something else, so it just kind of flew out since I had her in a good mood, "I love you." Shock spread across her face, so I stumbled out, "That was probably a bad time to tell you." Normally I would be nervous about this kind of stuff, but for some reason I felt the need to just get everything out in the open.

"Probably," she told me. "But I was gonna find out at some point anyway. I knew you liked me Nico…but love? When did that happen?"

"When I got called by Annabeth," I elaborated. "She was babbling frantically about how you and Percy were in an accident. When I heard you were hurt I just knew."

She took a deep breath, "And you're aware I don't return the feelings?"

"Yet."

She rolled her eyes and for a second she seemed like herself here, "There's probably a lot more you want to tell me and there's a lot more I want to know, but I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to relax before the doctors put me under again."

"Actually," I intervened, "There's one thing you should really know." Someone had to tell her about her mom and I didn't want that person to just be some random doctor.

"Whatever it is, I won't hold it against you for not telling me," she assured me. "I just don't want to know right now. Come here." She didn't raise her arms from under the sheets in a gesture, but she glanced toward her shoulder and I got the hint. I swung my feet up onto the bed, careful not to hit any of the many wires hooked up to her. Then, like a little kid, I rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes to fall asleep. I was surprised the weight on her shoulder didn't hurt, but I don't think she was too damaged there.

"One last thing, di Angelo," she told me.

Not even bothering opening my eyes, I groaned, "What?"

"When I'm able to eat actual food again, you're getting me a cheeseburger."

I laughed, "That shouldn't be a problem."

**Personally, I loved this chapter. Mainly because there was so much going on. I almost made it seem like Thalia was dead, but instead there's the twist of her mother having died in the crash. A lot of what I came up for for this chapter I've seen happen. I know a kid who temporarily paralyzed after getting hit by car. And one of my friends had to get back surgery and she said that the pain meds made her crazy. She imagined people cooking in her hospital room and her parents found it hilarious.**

**Anyway, we also found out that Nico's in love with Thalia even though she's still very confused. And I made almost no mention about her whole conflict with Percy and Annabeth, but that comes into play next chapter. By the way, I don't own the song Collide by Howie Day. Though I do suggest you all listen to it because it is an amazing song and it's very fitting for this story. And I didn't win the Verita, but oh well. Not a biggy.**

**And damn that was one long author's note. And by a show of hands, how many of you did I trick into thinking Thalia was dead at the beginning of the chapter? Either way I hope all of you loved the chapter as much as I did :)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****bubbly chick****, ****Firehawk97****, ****lilslybud****, ****Dark Phantom 96****, ****Draknero****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****ChildrenOfTheGreatGods****, ****kldsn123****, ****cookiecrumbs976****, ****Ducky176****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****ixdookiie****, ****larkgrace****, ****Seaweed Brain24256****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****xXxDaughterofAthenaxXx****, ****Perseus12****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****the ghost king****, ****candy0304****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****courixoxo****, ****percabeth and thalico1219****, ****Owl of the Sea****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****chattie98****, ****deathoughtkid****, ****TaylorWeeksy****, ****Assassins Stole My Pants****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****PJOWiseGirl****, ****xJETx****, ****MelRose520****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant**

**Disclaimer: I'm girl, so I'm pretty sure I'm not Rick Riordan. Thus, I don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

I awoke in the hospital the next morning to find Annabeth sleeping on my shoulder. If the situation had been different, I most likely would've been happy to see her there. Anything about her at the moment just seemed too complicated to think about though. A few minutes after I woke up, she was jarred awake as well.

She pulled her head up from my chest and mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's okay," I assured her. There were dark bags under her eyes that made me question if she had gotten much sleep at all last night. If so, she wasn't alone. "Guilt keeping you awake?"

With a nod, she elaborated, "I just feel so bad. I should have never told you I liked you. Some things are just better left unsaid." She was feeling guilty for telling me? I was glad I knew and since I'm pretty sure I returned the feelings, I had to know. Maybe it was bad timing, but that wasn't really her fault. I pried it out of her anyway. She had warned me that it would be wrong for her to tell me.

I gently placed my hand on her shoulder, "None of this is your fault. I made you tell me, I kissed you, I was the one driving the car."

"I guess I can't be blamed for the car thing," she admitted, "But you didn't _make _me tell you and I kissed you back. Either way, it's still wrong. Besides, I should've told Thalia a long time ago that I liked you."

"How do you think she's doing?" I asked. Even though the doctor said she was alive, that still wasn't very comforting. And I wasn't really mad that Nico went to see her first, but how long does a visit take? I had heard from a doctor about an hour ago that she was awake and not still hopped up on pain medication.

Annabeth simply brushed a fallen strand of blonde hair out of her face, "Probably not that great. Even though she survived, her arms were marred a bit and she's partially paralyzed. That's got to suck. And apparently one of her ribs snapped too, so it's probably not easy to breathe either." That wasn't exactly a comforting viewpoint.

"I'm giving Nico five more minutes before I go and drag him out," I threatened. I couldn't stand not seeing her any longer. "Want to come with me?"

She pursed her lips, "I don't think I should. Both of us really need to talk to her, but we should do it separately. I'm not even so sure I can face her yet. I haven't even thought of how I'm going to apologize." Quite frankly, I hadn't thought of that either.

"Right," I said, "I forgot you always need a plan for everything."

She punched me lightly in the arm and I laughed a little. It seemed wrong though. For me to be happy out here with Annabeth while Thalia was damaged because of me somewhere else in the hospital. And I wasn't exaggerating when I said that if Nico didn't come back in five minutes I would drag him out. Five minutes passed and I got fed up.

I left the lobby without a word and went to find her room. One of the doctors had given us her room number earlier, so I managed to figure it out. Slowly creaking the door open, I found Nico still there with her. He was next to her on the hospital bed, asleep on her shoulder. She was awake and using her opposite arm to reach out and stroke his shaggy dark hair. That arm looked awful though. Layered on top of the fading bruises, scars, and burns left by her now deceased mother were livid red cuts scattered across her pale skin. Otherwise, she seemed more tired than anything.

"Got yourself a new boyfriend?" I joked, pointing at the snoozing Nico. She glared at me until I added, "Because he would probably be a lot better of a boyfriend to you than I was."

She sighed, "Maybe he will be someday. I just can't handle any more confusion right now though." She shook his shoulder slightly and his eyes flittered open. "Can you go?" she asked him, "I need to talk to Percy." His eyes widened a bit when he saw her mutilated arm. Even though he seemed a hell of a lot less than thrilled about it, he listened. Though he did make sure to shoot me a nasty glare before walking out.

I went and pulled a chair up next to her bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Well it depends on what you mean by that," she explained. "Physically, I'm numb and tired. Emotionally, only God knows. Mentally, I'm a disaster."

"Even though you are quickly going to get tired of hearing me say this, I am _so _sorry."

"To be completely honest," she told me, "I don't care. It's not going to do anything. It will only make you feel worse. It's not going to help me walk again and it's not going to go back in time and change what you did."

It was hard to come up with a response to that, "Then what can I do?"

She rolled her eyes, "If only I knew. I don't blame you for the accident though."

"You don't?" How could she not? I ran a red light just because I was upset and not only ended up hurting her, but killing her mother as well.

"No," she deadpanned. "I think you're dumbass for it and I'm never ever getting in a car with you again though. But accidents happen. I know you weren't plotting for me to get sent to the hospital. You're not _that_ cruel and frankly you're not smart enough to." At least she thinks I'm stupid instead of cruel.

"Then why are you mad at me?" I asked. "Because you still seem pretty pissed off."

She gave me an 'Are you seriously asking me that?'look, "Well, what set off your suckish driving in the first place?"

"I kissed Annabeth," I answered and it got awkwardly quiet after that. Neither of us really knew what to say about the topic.

Finally, she swallowed hard, "I knew things were bad between us, but I never thought you would do that."

"I didn't think I would either."

"Then why did you?"

"Because I think that I've liked her deep down all along." As soon as the words escaped my lips, I was afraid she would get mad and start yelling. There was some more silence and she took a few calming breaths. "Why aren't you getting mad?"

She laughed faintly only to wince in pain from her snapped rib, "Oh trust me, I want to be pissed off so bad. But I can't get to frustrated because it could cause a dangerous spike in my heart rate which is the last thing my body needs. And there's the fact that being angry at you will only add to more confusion. So, I really want to be mad yet I can't afford it."

"You have every reason to hate me though," I stated flatly. Did I have to paint her a freakin' picture that she probably shouldn't even be talking to me? "I don't know if Nico told you, but in the crash…in the other car-"

"My mom was killed in the accident," she summed up for me and I nodded as confirmation. "One of the doctors told me while Nico was sleeping. We weren't close but-"

"I know you'll miss her somehow," I interrupted. "At least you're safe now though."

"That's what you don't seem to get, Percy," she accused. "She may not be around to hurt me anymore, but where am I going to end up now? Even though she hated me, she still let me live in the house. She never kicked me out. My dad hated me enough that he didn't want anything to do with me. She may have been the worst mom on the face of the earth, but she still took on the role of a mom for me. And the doctor explained something else too."

It was weird hearing her actually talk positively about her mother, so my interest was definitely peaked, "What'd he say?"

"He told me that if it wasn't for her, I most likely wouldn't have survived the accident," a few tears rolled down her cheek. I'd known Thalia for years and this was maybe the second time I'd seen her cry even though a lot of people in her position would've been bawling daily. Her mom was always a touchy subject for her though, "They knew she had very little chance of surviving. They were still supposed to operate and try and save her, but they gave her an option instead. They could try and save her or she could donate her blood to me. They knew we had matching blood types and since she was related to me, it would be an even safer donation. I was fading and they wouldn't have had time to get blood from a donor or stored somewhere else in the hospital. Dying, she chose to give me her blood to save me."

That caused my mouth to twitch up in a slight grin, "Now I know where you get your bravery from."

"Don't bother trying to get back on my good side, Jackson," she scoffed. I felt awful when she called me by my last name. She hadn't called me by that in years and she only used to when we were fighting. I had put an even bigger gap between us than I had thought. "I don't think it even needs to be said, but we just aren't together anymore."

"I figured as much."

She blinked back more tears, "And I can't afford to be angry with you right now, but I need to stay away from you for a while and figure things out and get my life back together. So if you could please just let me keep my distance." Somehow that hurt more than I think her screaming at me would've. Instead of mindless yelling, I was just reminded of what I did. I had wrecked her life to the point where simply being near her was too overwhelming.

Getting up to leave, I said, "I'll try, but I make no promises."

**Even though I always say this, I hope you all loved the chapter. Percy's overloaded with guilt and Annabeth feels bad as well. Nico's still kind of mad at Percy and just saw some of Thalia's many scars. Thalia's beyond confused and her mom isn't **_**all **_**bad. I figured I should give the woman a bit of a nice side because she couldn't have been the devil if she kept Thalia in the first place instead of just like leaving her in the streets. It just goes to show that somewhere deep down she actually cares. A lot of you may have been expecting Thalia to get really ticked off at Percy, but if you're severely hospitalized, you need to try and keep your heart rate stable as much as possible. So she couldn't really scream at him without putting herself in jeopardy.**

**I really wanted t post more over the break this past week, but I have barely been around. I've probably been home less than I am during a school week. But I still gave out my weekly update, so at least that's something :) And I also truly feel the need to thank all of you amazing reviewers to getting this story all the way to 521 reviews. I never really expected to get that many for a story, so I am a hell of a lot more than ecstatic to say the least. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****cookiecrumbs976****, ****MegRose x****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****storyteller1425****, ****lilslybud****, ****Julianna54321****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****PJOWiseGirl****, ****Seaweed Brain24256****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****the unnecessary****, ****Imakiller54321****, ****RosesFromDrew****, ****candy0304****, ****kldsn123****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****bubbly chick****, ****Dark Phantom 96****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****courixoxo****, ****MelRose520****, ****XxJustxXbelieveXx****, ****the ghost king****, ****princess074****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Firehawk97****, ****Ducky176****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****livelife13****, ****Rosefire-of-Roseclan****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****seaweed brain girl****, ****Sunneshine123****, ****000hiall1400****, ****Perseus12**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Thalia POV**

"This is horse shit!" I growled in annoyance as I tossed my forearm crutches away from me. I was sitting on the ground after trying to use those to walk for the umpteenth time. It had been a few weeks and conditions in the hospital had gotten a little better. They were allowing me to try walking as long as I had someone with me. There wasn't much room to do that though in the small room they had reassigned to me. My snapped rib had healed up a bit as long as no external pressure was applied to it. They finally let me wear clothes that weren't those uncomfortable paper gowns. So I was finally able to wear enough clothing to cover up all of my hideous scars again.

"Ow," Nico hissed as the crutches hit his shins. He was helping me attempt to walk again that day. And he brought me my school work. I wasn't happy to have to do the work when I still didn't feel all that great, but it was the only way I wouldn't have to repeat the year since I was missing so many days of school.

"Sorry," I apologized as he came and sat next to me with the crutches in his hands.

"Want to try again? Or do you need a minute?"

"I need a minute."

He grinned, "In that case…" he got up and rustled through a bag he brought with him. Sitting back down next to me, he handed me something wrapped in a fast food bag. "I've kept my word."

The smell of the delicacy hit me before I could even open the bag. Excited, I tore open the paper to find a juicy cheeseburger. Since I couldn't move my legs, I kind of fell on him to hug him, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are my savior." I took a huge bite and my taste buds screamed in delight.

He laughed, "I think you have an addiction."

I started to say something, but realized it made no sense since I had burger in my mouth. Swallowing, I tried again, "I could be addicted to drugs or sex or alcohol or something a lot worse. So be happy this is my obsession instead."

He grinned, "I guess you have a point. Can I ask you something?"

"Considering you just made my month forty times better," I told him, "ask me anything."

"Are you and Percy officially broken up?"

If it was anyone else who asked, I would've made some snappy or sarcastic remark. Percy and I were officially done, but it still bothered me. I don't even know why it did. I guess it could've been for a lot of reasons though.

I sighed, "Yeah. Yeah we are. I wouldn't get your hopes up though, I'm pretty messed up right now."

"I know," he assured me. "I was just wondering if since you're not dating Percy anymore…if maybe-" he paused, trying to find the right words. "Thalia, do you want to go to junior prom with me?"

"Nico," I warned. I know he loves me or whatever, but this was kind of uncalled for.

"Before you say no," he interrupted. "I'm not trying to ask you out because I know you don't want that. But since you'll be back in school by then, I can almost guarantee you that Silena will force us both to go anyway. So why not suffer together? We can go as friends and it won't have to mean anything."

"That's the problem," I told him, "Even though you say it won't mean anything, it will still mean a lot more to you than it does to me."

"So is that a 'no'?"

I raked a hand through my hair, "You are right though; Silena is going to make us go one way or another. I would say yes, but I'm afraid that would give you the wrong message."

"Don't worry," he promised, "I'm not one to get a big impression from dances. If you went with me to a concert, then you might have something to worry about."

I laughed, "Then I'll go with you." He grinned and we sat silently until I finished my burger. "Wait a minute…was the burger some sort of bribe?"

His face flushed a little, "It wasn't really a bribe…it was more of a way to make sure you were happy with me before I asked which gave me a better shot."

I punched him in the arm even though it was a lot weaker than usual. Since the accident, I couldn't even land a good punch on someone. You have no idea how depressing that is for me.

Just before Nico was going to have me try walking again, one of the last people I'd wanted to see walked in. Percy was at the top of that list, but she was a close second. She had been avoiding me ever since the accident. I had gotten visits from pretty much everyone but her. Even the Stoll brothers came. They found poking my left thigh amusing since I couldn't really feel it when they did. Even Zoё Nightshade from the archery club came and visited me, and she usually _hates _me. She's the leader of the celibacy club too, even though she made it into the Eternal Maidenhood Club after no guys joined. She had despised me since I started dating Percy last year. But she came with Bianca to tell me that the whole archery club hoped I would feel better. Not one visit from my best friend though.

"Well if it isn't Benedict Arnold," I called as Annabeth came over.

She took a deep breath, "Look, Thalia-"

"Relax," I cut her off, "I was joking."

Nico glanced nervously between the two of us, "I'm going to go before things get ugly."

He scampered out the door, shutting it swiftly behind him.

Annabeth immediately went into apology mode, "Thalia, I'm so-"

"Sorry?" I finished for her. She nodded, so I continued, "I don't want an apology. I've gotten so many of them, they mean nothing. As an apology, could you just give me some explanations instead?"

Sick of sitting on the ground, I decided to go and sit in my wheelchair. I had to drag myself over to it since my legs wouldn't work. Annabeth looked like she wanted to help, but decided against it. That was probably smart of her; I hate having people try and help me. All was well until I tried to hoist myself into the chair which I had done quite a few times successfully in the past few days. As I was pushing myself up though, my sore arms gave out. My side with my snapped rib hit the seat and my side exploded in pain. I fell onto my back, hands clutching my side that felt like a truck was being pressed down on it.

Annabeth rushed over and dropped to her knees next to me, "Are you okay? Do I need to get a nurse?"

"I'm fine," I lied even though spots danced in my vision. Eventually the pain subsided and I drew a shaky breath, "Can you help me into my wheelchair?"

She seemed surprised I actually asked, "Of course." She threw one of my arms over her shoulders and picked me up as she stood. She placed me in my chair with ease, "So what do you want to know?"

"I'll start with why haven't I gotten single visit from you before today? Even Percy was able to face me."

"There was a bunch of different reasons. I had no idea how I was supposed to go about this and I'm not like Percy who just goes running into things. I figured you already had a lot on your mind, especially about Percy and I. He told me you were pretty messed up at the moment, and I didn't want to add to that either. Plus, I was trying to figure a lot of stuff out myself which certainly wasn't helping. And I also partially felt like you wouldn't want to see me. I haven't exactly been doing great with the whole 'best friend' concept." It's hard to stay angry over something when actual logic is backing it.

I nodded, "Fair enough. The first few days I already had to deal with Percy and Nico. It's not that I didn't want to see them, but I was so tired from the pain medication that I mostly wanted to sleep. So I guess you not coming then gave me some more rest. And if you came as soon as I was free from the heart rate monitor, I most likely would've just lashed out at you. I have other questions though."

"Are you going to ask me why I kissed Percy?" she guessed. She looked down at her Converse as if she were ashamed of what she did.

"No," I replied. "I'm not mad at you for kissing Percy. He told me he started it and you just kissed him back. It wasn't necessarily the right thing to do, but I can't blame you. If I had liked a guy for so long, I would've done the same damn thing. What I am mad about is why didn't you tell me you liked him?" When I mentioned to Nico that I knew, he told me that she had liked him for about five years. She hadn't even told me before I was dating him.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I didn't want to ruin your relationship with him by saying anything even though that didn't really work out. And before that, I tried to deny it myself most of the time. I've never been too good with emotional stuff."

"Things would've been so different though," I pointed out. "If you told me before I started dating him, I probably never would've. If you told me while I was dating him, we probably would've broken up a lot sooner and a lot more peacefully. Maybe I would actually be happily with Nico which would make me going to prom with him a lot less awkward."

Her head tilted to the side, "You're going to prom with Nico?"

"That's not the point!"

"Right, sorry. Like I said, I don't know why I didn't tell you. It probably just seemed like the smart thing for me to do at the time. Now it seems like that was a pretty stupid idea."

"It was," I confirmed. "And I want to know how much Percy squealed to you about me. Did Percy tell you about my mom?"

"How she died? Yeah." She seemed to be about to apologize, but caught herself.

"No. Did he tell you about-" I rolled up the sleeve of my plain black jacket to reveal one of my butchered arms. It almost pained me to simply look at them. I knew exactly how I got every single one of my scars, and the memories were brutal, "-this?"

She nodded and her eyes bulged at the sight, "I'm guessing most of those are from your mom, not the accident." I had kind of figured Percy blabbed to her. That didn't really bother me though, it's not like I had to tell her then.

"Yep. I used my arms to shield my head in the accident, and some glass still tore through my shirt sleeves. Most of these marks are from her though. Which is ironic because she kind of saved my life." I had been trying to ignore the topic of my mom since I found out about it. I was pretty sure Nico had figured everything out, but just didn't want to say anything.

Annabeth smirked, "Well, irony's a bitch. And I understand if you say no to this, but I had been thinking about something. I don't want to live with Percy anymore and you don't have anyone to live with or go to to live with. I was wondering if I could move into your house with you. That way I wouldn't have to go back to my parents and you wouldn't be sent off somewhere. I know you probably have to use the inheritance money from your mom to pay for your medical bills, but I think we might be able to blackmail your dad into paying mortgage on the house. After all, he is a big business man and we could ruin him if we leaked out what had been going on since he abandoned you."

I had nothing else to say to her brilliant plan except, "You're forgiven." I had been kind of giving her the cold shoulder since she walked in, but she still had the guts to ask if I wanted to live with her. I had to at least give her some credit for that.

"What?"

"You're forgiven," I repeated. "I think you've been stripped of the title of 'my really smart best friend', but you're still my best friend. And if we're going to be living together, I'm going to have to forgive you anyway."

"You're forgiving me? And letting me move in?" she asked in shock. "Just like that?"

I shrugged, "I've managed to forgive Percy, thus I think I can forgive you. He's just too confusing for me to be around. You however, aren't as confusing for me. If you kiss my next boyfriend though, I'll kick your ass."

She laughed, "If I kiss your next boyfriend, I think I'll kick my own ass."

"That's the spirit. Speaking of boyfriends though," I said casually, "what are you planning on doing about Percy?"

She blushed and seemed to get pretty nervous, "Um…well, I'm not quite sure. I don't think I could go out with him though. I'd feel like I was betraying you."

"No offense, but for a smart girl, you're being ridiculously stupid about this."

"Excuse me?"

I sighed, "I'm not dating him anymore, it would be plain dumb if you didn't go out with him. One of the main reasons I broke up with him is because he liked you. If I broke up with him for that and you guys didn't at least give dating a shot, I would feel really stupid. And I would just feel like a bitch because I would be what's keeping you apart. If you went out with him, I would feel relieved. Besides, I think if you dated him, it would be easier for me to get over him. I would know he's dating someone he's happy with."

"You're advising me to date him?"

"Yes!" I shouted like that should be completely obvious. I just gave her a bunch of reasons why I want her to, but it would make absolute sense for me to forbid it. "Do I need to put it on a billboard with flashing lights?"

"It just seems odd," she stated. "And isn't that like breaking 'girl code' or something?"

I laughed hard enough I barely noticed the ache that was running through my ribcage, "Since when have I ever cared about rules? Especially made up ones that are broken all the time?"

She smiled and I was surprised to see it, "Thanks. I'll think about it. And it's nice to see that the accident barely affected your rebellious attitude."

"Damn right," I told her.

"I have one question though," her eyebrow was arched and her attention was focused on something on the floor, "Why is there a fast food bag on the ground?"

That only set me off into another fit of laughter. I got a burger, someone to suffer through prom with, a way to live without being sent to an orphanage, and my best friend reinstated. All in all, a productive day.

**So last chapter it was Percy's confrontation with Thalia and this chapter it was Annabeth's a few weeks later. I personally like that scene because they are always said to be good friends, but I rarely ever find scenes with them where it is really shown. And how Thalia and Annabeth are using Thalia's dad to keep the house may have not made much sense, so I'll re-explain. Her dad's a big businessman and could have some really bad stuff happen to his rep if people learned that he abandoned his daughter with her drunken mother and made no contact with her even though he was probably informed by the hospital Thalia was hurt. So Annabeth knows they could blackmail him to pay off the mortgage on the house.**

**Anyway, I yet again hope this is another chapter that you all love. Next chapter I think is going to skip ahead in time too. And I think it will be when Thalia goes back to school. I don't know yet, I'm still figuring stuff out. I hope you review and have a great week until I update next weekend :) **


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: **Alexandra Nightshade, RosesFromDrew, Skylar. Daughter of Hades, storyteller1425, bubbly chick, Fidelis Et Espoire A Noel Dy, lilslybud, PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11, Heartless demon wolf, KashaTrapp, ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927, Dark Phantom 96, HiThereSmiley, Ducky176, kldsn123, The Mysterious Dreamer, biancadiangelo0703, Coqui's Song, Kimoura.J, courixoxo, Seaweed Brain24256, BeautifulEscapades18, Oceangirl511, ScarletGrcae45, MelRose520, Firehawk97, Damon-salvatore-lover15, the ghost king, candy0304, atlchick313, Electronic Bookworm, Huntress of the sky, deathoughtkid, SoccerGirl8

**Even though I have said this 22 other times just for this story, I don't own PJO.**

**Luke POV**

"It's a good thing this paralysis is only temporary," Thalia complained next to me as she pushed herself further down the hall in her wheelchair. She had come back to school that day and even though she would never admit it, I could tell she was glad to be back. It added a bit of normalcy to her life after the past couple of months. "There's almost no handicap accessibility here."

"Aren't you able to walk on crutches now though?" I asked. Nico had been helping her pretty much every day and I thought he had mentioned she got cleared by a physical therapist to start using her forearm crutches more regularly instead of just to practice.

She shrugged, "I can but it tires me out a lot to use them for a long period of time. And my legs would be really sore the next day if I tried to use them the entire time I was in school. I hate all the attention this chair brings me though."

I knew what she meant. She never liked having attention. Mainly because there were a lot of things that she kept to herself. Not to mention people kept twisting the story of how she got put in the wheelchair. The worst one had been that Percy hit her with his car, but thankfully Nico, Annabeth, Percy, and I had all expelled that rumor before she returned.

"You say you don't like the spotlight, but didn't you already get yourself sent to the principal's office?" I pointed out. I heard she had already gotten into some sort of trouble earlier, and it was still somehow surprising to me that she managed that.

She grinned wryly, "Some guy kept calling me a crip, so I punched him in the balls since I couldn't reach his face. I think I won that fight."

I stuck out my hand which she high-fived. It was technically our lunch period, yet we had decided to go wander the school since we both finished eating quick. A couple minutes later, Nico came jogging up to us.

"Hey," he greeted, "The bell's gonna ring in a minute. I got out early since it was just gym class." He looked to me, "I'll take her stuff." I handed him Thalia's backpack that I had been carrying since she had no place for it on her wheelchair. Nico and I could both tell she hated all the help we were giving her. She really didn't have much of a choice though. Annabeth had been helping her too, though Percy kept his distance from Thalia. I could tell it bothered him to stay away, yet it was probably for the best.

Thalia grimaced, "I feel like a child. I can barely do anything around here. Thankfully Annabeth backs off when we are at our house or I would go nuts." I grinned a bit at the mention of them living together. Even though I know I didn't get Annabeth kicked out, I still couldn't help feeling a nagging guilt about it. Her plan for blackmailing Thalia's dad went perfectly and he paid off the entire mortgage. Now that they were living together, I didn't feel so bad because she could stay someplace I knew she was happy in. And this didn't cause as much drama from when she lived with Percy.

"Well, we both know I'm not leaving you alone anytime soon," Nico told her.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," she spat sarcastically. She wasn't trying to be mean though because she smiled up at him. He returned it with a clearly flirty look.

"Ugh," I groaned, "I already feel like a third wheel."

"Shut up," Nico told me with the tiniest hint of a grin.

Thalia gave me a glare but I could she wasn't putting much anger behind it, "Don't make me punch _you _in the balls." I hoped she wouldn't. She had just started being able to land a good punch again, much to her delight but everyone else's dismay.

The bell rang a second later and people came pouring out into the hallways. The three of us stood there chatting, waiting for the main crowd to pass. Percy and Annabeth rounded a corner into our view, with their hands intertwined.

Not sure how Thalia would react, I attempted to bring up something else, "So…um, about the biology project-" It was pretty lame, but I was just trying to help. I knew Annabeth and Percy had begun dating, and I wasn't sure how Thalia was about it. I heard she told Annabeth it was okay, yet that doesn't mean anything. If she still liked Percy, it would still hurt her to see them.

"Luke," she cut me off, "Be quiet."

"Do you want to go?" Nico checked with her. I could tell he was slightly worried too.

She laughed, "You two need to relax, I'm fine. I practically told Annabeth she has to go out with him."

"How are you so okay with this?" I asked. When I found out Annabeth used me, I was pissed. I was still kind of mad about it. But here was Thalia, who probably got a hell of a lot worse end of the deal than me, being totally okay with what happened to her. Even if she wasn't really okay with it, at least she had the dignity to act like it for them.

She thought about it for a second, "I'm not sure actually. All that time in the hospital gave me a lot of time to think about things, so I guess it just made it easier to get over it. I just realized it wasn't _worth_ getting upset over."

I didn't say anything. I had nothing to say to that. I felt so stupid for letting my anger keep me so pissed off these past months. That's really sad because Thalia's temper is just as bad as mine, if not worse.

"We'll see you later," Nico told me, heading off down the hallway with Thalia.

"Hi," I heard Annabeth say next to me. I turned to find her standing there without Percy. He must've left for class.

"Hey," I returned simply.

She sighed, "You're not happy that I'm with Percy, are you?" Are my emotions really that readable?

"That depends," I told her. "Are you happy?"

She nodded, "But please don't use that 'I just want you to be happy' line. Especially if that isn't how you really feel."

The side of my mouth lifted in a slight grin, "I should've known you're too smart to let me get away with telling you that."

"I know you told me to please stay away, but I can't anymore. I want to fix things. I don't want to keep waiting to know if you're angry or upset…or if you still like me."

"I'm not really angry or upset," I admitted. "And I think I'm finally over you." It was true. In the time I had spent away from her, it slowly bothered me less and less that we weren't together.

She smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. And even though I've said it before, I'm really sorry for what I did."

"It's okay. I understand. You really did think you would eventually be happy with me. You just miscalculated for once," I explained. It was weird explaining something to Annabeth; there's hardly ever a need to. "And I'm sorry too. I've been avoiding you for a while now which was kind of cowardly of me."

"You had every right to."

"Well, I hope you and Percy are very happy together," I said, and I actually think I meant it.

She stepped closer and hugged me, "Thanks. And even though I don't like you the way I like Percy, you mean a lot to me. You're practically my brother."

I hugged her back, "I can live with that."

The bell rang again for the start of class, meaning we were both going to be late.

She began walking toward her class, calling over her shoulder, "You just made me late to class for the first time in my life; you owe me."

Chuckling, I shook my head in disbelief. There simply is no way of understanding girls.

**So this chapter was kind of a filler chapter, but I felt it was important. It should how things are slowly going back to normal and I needed to finally resolve the Annabeth/Luke fiasco. So even though it wasn't very exciting, I hope you all loved it.**

**Now I have a favor to ask of you. I have a one-shot idea that I think I want to post that I already started. In **_**The**__**Titan's Curse**_**, it mentions how Thalia and Zoё were talking in the front of the truck they were driving right after Bianca died. I know it's a minor detail in the book, but I wanted to write the scene with them talking. Since it's kind of random, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in it. So if you could include in your reviews your thoughts on the one-shot, it would be greatly appreciated.**

**Love you all, Gingerkid73. **


	24. Chapter 24

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****deathoughtkid****, ****lilslybud****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****Prettylittleliar1435****, ****kldsn123****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****bubbly chick****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Jareth'sTrueQueen****, ****MyRealNameIsHiding****, ****Firehawk97****, ****storyteller1425****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****candy0304****, ****evilpercy****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****Athena Forever****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****RosesFromDrew****, ****Darknaightmare****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****MelRose520****, ****Annie Heartcrest**

**I still DO NOT own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV **

"This isn't exactly the fun way I planned to spend my weekend," Luke grumbled as he threw a stray beer bottle into a garbage bag. Even though I had moved in with Thalia a little while ago, we hadn't gotten much of a chance to repair a lot of the damage done to the house. So we had Luke and Nico come over to help fix up the place.

"You didn't _have _to help," I told him. "I asked if you wanted to and you agreed."

Nico looked at Thalia who was going through some drawers and throwing away stuff, "We need another garbage bag for all of this crap. Where can I get one?"

She pointed to an archway across the room, "There should be some in a cabinet under the sink in the kitchen."

He shuffled into the kitchen and came back out a few seconds later with a garbage bag in hand and a very confused look on his face, "Thalia, you never told me you had a pool." He must've seen it through the screen door in the kitchen.

Thalia shrugged, "I've never used it. It's always been here, but it hasn't been open as long as I've been alive. My mom never opened it or hired someone to, so it's not like I ever went in."

"We should open it this summer," Luke added. "And that way we wouldn't have to pay to get into the town pool every other day."

"Let me just go check something quick," she got up from her wheelchair and headed across the room using her forearm crutches. She had been using them more frequently and would even use them for a school day occasionally. According to Nico, he even got her to walk solely with a little support from him. He said her limp when she did that was bad though and she couldn't go like that for very long. She went into the garage for a couple seconds before returning, "We still have some chlorine and other chemicals you need to put in the pool so we could open it this summer if we wanted to. I don't know if I would be able to go in by then, but you would all still be free to use it."

"Thals," Nico warned, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that even though Annabeth lives here now, we aren't going to use the pool without you. Even if you can't swim by then, you could stand in the shallow end or something."

I could tell she didn't like that the conversation had been pointed in her direction. It was unlike her to shy away from something like that, but I noticed the way she was consciously tugging at the hem of her shirt sleeve, trying to pull it further over her arms if possible. Since I had been around her again, I had noticed she would do this often. I could only figure that it was a sign she was thinking not-so-great thoughts revolving around the accident.

So I chose to step in and lighten the mood, "We're thinking too far ahead. First me and Thalia have to survive dress shopping for prom with Silena tomorrow."

Thalia groaned as both of the guys said, "Ouch."

"And word has it," I told Thalia, "She's promising herself that she isn't letting you go in all black."

"If she makes me wear pink, I'll kill her," she threatened.

Luke laughed, "You wouldn't get the chance to. If she saw you in a pink dress, I'm pretty sure she would die laughing before you could do any harm."

"Haha," she said sarcastically and socked him the arm. "At least I'm going with someone. Who are you even going with?"

I'll admit this question peaked my curiosity. I was totally over him, but if I knew he would be going happily with someone I would be a hell of a lot more relieved. It would mean he had fully moved on as well.

He shrugged, "No one. I'm flying solo. I'm gonna see how many different girls I can get to dance with me. I'll make a little game out of it. It'll make my night just as fun."

I chuckled, "In that case, I'm so not giving you a dance just to rack up your tally."

He fake-pouted, "Why not?"

"Why are you even bothering to ask?" Nico told him. "We both know she's going to say it's sexist and immature so this is her way of getting back at you." I narrowed my eyes at him and he held up his hands defensively, "Don't give me that look. You were so going to say that."

I couldn't help but crack a grin, "You know me too well." Each of them knew me too well for my own good because they were all my friends.

My phone started blaring my ringtone, Emergency by Paramore. I opened it to find a text from Percy. He was wondering if I was around to hang out. I really did want to go with him, but I didn't want to just ditch my friends. Especially since I was supposed to be helping fix the house. So, even though it isn't the nicest thing to do, I ignored the text and slipped my phone into my pocket.

"Who was it?" Nico asked, plopping down on an old dusty couch.

"It was just Silena reminding me we have to meet her at the mall right at noon tomorrow," I lied smoothly.

It was a pretty good lie, yet Thalia and Nico were still looking at me skeptically. I noticed that I didn't see Luke just as I felt my phone slip out of my pocket. Whirling around, I found Luke with my phone probably going through my messages.

"She's lying," he declared, "It's from Percy."

"Jerk," I growled at him, snagging my phone back.

Thalia eased herself back into her wheelchair, "If he was wondering if you were around, you can go. It's not like we're going to be doing anything exciting. We're just cleaning the house."

I sighed, "Yeah, but I'm living here now too. I should stay and help clean."

"Are you seriously trying to make an excuse to stay and clean?" Nico grinned, "Most people would take the offer to leave in a split second."

"Shut it," I told him, "You don't even live here." With how often he's over to hang out with Thalia though, he might as well live here.

"I'm serious," Thalia told me, "Go. Have fun with him. I have these two helping me out so don't feel bad."

"Thanks," I told her before grabbing my stuff and heading out the door.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

Thalia had been letting me use her car since she couldn't drive so I got to Percy's apartment building in like ten minutes. When I got there, he was waiting out on the front steps of the building. It was already getting a little dark out, but the air was nice and cool.

The second I was out of the car Percy came and hugged me, "Hey."

"Hey," I greeted back and pecked him on the cheek.

"I want to show you something," he told me and grabbed my hand. He led me to a stairwell instead of the elevator. "I'll race you to my floor."

There are eight floors in this building and his was on the sixth. I knew I would be able to beat him easily in a race.

"You're on," I challenged. "Ready, set, go!"

The second I said go we both started pounding up the steps. Percy was still taking them one at a time while I was bounding up them with two or three in a stride. He also nearly tripped and fell flat on his face once, causing me to laugh and lose more breath. I was determined to win though. I reach his floor and waited for him on that landing. He reached me and my triumphant smirk before continuing up more stairs, leaving me very confused.

He laughed, "I lied, I meant I'll race you to the roof."

I let out a loud huff of annoyance before pursuing him. Even though he got a lead by a whole flight of stairs I still reached the roof at the same time as him. The two of us collapsed up there, allowing oxygen to fill our lungs again.

"Well," he breathed, "That was fun."

"I'm surprised," I told him, "That was actually a clever idea of yours. Even if I beat you anyway."

He stuck his tongue out at me and got up, "This is what I wanted to show you."

Leading me over to the edge of the roof, he gestured out to the view in front us. My breath caught in my throat. There aren't many apartment buildings in town so this was probably the tallest building around, giving us an overview of the entire town. It was easy to see all the little details of the town. You could see cars going by on the roads and they looked pretty tiny, but you could see people walking around on the sidewalks. From up there, you could even hear a lot of the noises around town. Whether it was a dog barking just down the road or a jackhammer at the construction site halfway across town.

"This is amazing," I gazed all around in wonder.

He smiled at me, "I thought you would like it."

"I do," I assured him. "It's incredible."

"Do I get a kiss as a reward for finding this place?"

I rolled my eyes at his corniness, "Sure."

Lacing my arms around his neck, I leaned in and kissed him. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to deepen the kiss. I was reluctant to let it stop, but I eventually had to for air. Taking a step back, I simply grasped his hand in mine again. My ADHD started acting up after a while of watching the view, so I began tracing patterns on his palm with my thumb. I flipped his hand over when I brushed over a rough unfamiliar mark to find a scar running along his palm. It was thick, but appeared somewhat faded.

"Did you get this from the accident?" I asked quietly.

He nodded solemnly, "When I was fighting to get the door open, I sliced it on something."

I really wish I hadn't brought up the accident. Whenever Thalia or the accident gets brought up around him, he falls into this seemingly depressed state. Not only did I feel bad for him about, but it was also really beginning to get on my nerves. Even though Thalia had agreed he shouldn't blame himself, he continued to. It was because he wishes he could've taken her side of the pain from the accident instead. He wishes their roles were reversed because he's loyal enough that he doesn't want her to feel any pain from it.

"You didn't die in that accident Percy," I murmured, "And neither did Thalia. She's forgiven you, so why can't you forgive yourself?"

"She still hasn't forgiven me fully," he argued. "If she had, she wouldn't keep this distance between us." If the situation was different, I would probably be really pissed off that he was talking about another girl like that. But it wasn't like that at all.

I ran a hand through my hair, "She has forgiven you though. She's only keeping you away because she needs to put her life together. Even before the accident it was falling apart. If the crash hadn't happened, there's still a good chance she would've needed some space to put things together anyway."

"Maybe you're right," he said in a monotone voice, eyes geared away from me.

"I'm almost always right," I reminded him. "And this is going to sound selfish, but are you really over her? Because if you're not, I think we should take a break until you are."

Instead of getting a simple yes or no answer like I had expected, he took my face in his hands and kissed me again. This time it was more passionate though, like he was trying to prove he really wanted to be with me.

Pulling away, he explained, "I'm over her, I'm just not over the accident. And trust me when I say I want to be with you. After all, you're the only thing helping me get past the crash." A small tear ran down his cheek so I wiped it away with my thumb. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," I whispered and pulled him into a hug. "Just promise me you'll stop beating yourself up like this."

"Only if you promise to help me."

"Percy, I told you a while ago I'll always be here for you."

**Okay, a couple of quick things. The end of this chapter may have been a little corny, but that's almost always how sad scenes are. And the last line was actually a reference to the last line of chapter 3. This chapter wasn't exceedingly eventful, but I gave you guys the Percabeth many of you have been waiting for. Also, for those of you who last chapter were interested in my oneshot, I posted it on Monday. If you didn't read it, it's up on my profile. And I'm sad to say as of right now there is only one more chapter of this story before the epilogue.**

**Yet again, I hope you all loved the chapter.**

**Love you all, Gingerkid73**


	25. Chapter 25

**I am SOOO sorry I didn't post last weekend. My computer was giving me all sorts of issues and I also had major writer's block with this story. I could've either tried to post something really crappy last week or something decent this week. I'm still not the biggest fan of how this turned out, but I didn't want to leave you all hanging for another week.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****lilslybud****, ****bubbly chick****, ****kldsn123****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Perseus12****, ****Firehawk97****, ****MelRose520****, ****storyteller1425****, ****PercyJackson-PeetaM-Fang-Fan11****, ****Cherry Louise****, ****candy0304****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****Tomato Loving Spaniard****, ****courixoxo****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927**

**I don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

School dances aren't really my strong point. Mainly because I'm the worst dancer ever, but also because I'm just not a huge fan of them. At least no one comes to prom too wasted because that doesn't really go down until the after parties. There was a Valentine's Day dance earlier in the year that I didn't go to, but I heard it got shut down in less than forty-five minutes because everyone was such a mess.

Anyway, I just don't really like dances. Even though it's only _junior _prom, it's still one of those things that you just feel obligated to go to. And Annabeth kept insisted we go which I found odd. And I won't even get started on Silena. She took all of us guys suit shopping one day and that was a total disaster. We got kicked out of three stores, almost forgot two ties at a store, and nearly left without buying dress shoes. Not to mention that I don't think that group went five minutes without some sort of an argument.

I guess it all paid off though. Annabeth showed up at my apartment about a half an hour before we had to leave because my mom wanted pictures. When I opened the door to find Annabeth there, my jaw dropped in shock. I had a hard time picturing her in a dress, nonetheless looking so good in one. It was a simple gray dress that hugged her curves well and she silver flats to match along with a set of owl earrings. It was pretty subtle, but I could tell she had a bit of make up on. When my mom finally finished fretting over how cute we looked and stopped taking pictures, we were free to leave.

As we were walking into the dance, we ran into Travis and Katie. After many 'words of encouragement' (threats is more like it) from Silena, Travis finally got the balls to not only ask Katie to prom, but he asked her out in general. It was about time.

"Annabeth in a dress?" Travis looked just as shocked as I probably had. "I see you finally decided to do something feminine."

She shoved his shoulder playfully, "Shut up. Even in a dress, I bet I could still kick your ass."

"Alright, no fights," Katie intervened, "The last thing we need is Silena on our case if one of us ends up with a black eye."

No one argued that.

I linked arms with Annabeth and headed in. We got stopped a bunch of times to take pictures with people until we finally reached a table to sit at. Silena and Beckendorf plopped down in the chairs across from us a few minutes later.

At Silena's presence I couldn't help but let out a small, "Oh no."

She narrowed her eyes at me, "You should be thanking me. I did help you get that suit after all. And you look nice in it. Doesn't he, Annabeth?"

Annabeth nodded, "He looks great. And thanks for all of the help."

"And my job isn't even done yet." I don't know which was scarier, the way she said that or the knowing glance she shared with Annabeth. I looked to Beckendorf for an answer, but he merely shrugged. He's helpful.

Thankfully Luke showed up before Silena could speak again.

Immediately, Annabeth told him, "We've already been over this; I'm not dancing with you."

He laughed a little, then turned to Silena, "Since Annabeth's being stubborn, care to dance?"

Beckendorf didn't look too thrilled as Silena nodded and went off with Luke.

"Don't worry about it," I assured him. "She likes you too much to betray you."

I really, really shouldn't have said that. Instantly, I started to feel like a hypocrite. I had cared about Thalia, but I cheated on her. Who am I to be telling people stuff like that? Especially after all that led to. That whole thing led absolute disaster. I didn't hurt just Thalia either. The crash killed her mom. Nico hated me for it. Annabeth felt guilty. And I became borderline insane. I started to feel like I was suffocating.

"Are you okay?" I snapped out of my trance to meet Annabeth's intense grey eyes.

"Yeah," I lied, loosening the green tie around my neck.

I met her eyes with my green ones again and I knew that she figured out what was up, "Let's go. Dancing will take your mind off of it."

"But I can't dance," I protested.

She hauled me out of my chair and towards the floor, "Then that means you'll have to use more of your concentration, which will make it easier to take your mind off of things."

I hate logic.

So that was the start of my dance-filled torture. Through the slow songs I was trying not to crush Annabeth's feet too much and through the fast ones that everyone was jumping around and fist-pumping to I was busy making sure I didn't accidentally elbow her in the face or something. I succeeded…for the most part. During one slow song my hands were on her waist and her arms were around my neck, and I was actually doing a good job of not hurting her.

"To be completely honest, I didn't think I would have any fun at this," I admitted.

She shrugged, "Neither did I. This has actually been really fun though."

"That might just be because nothing has gone wrong yet," I pointed out.

Lightly hitting the back of my head, she laughed, "Don't jinx it. If something goes wrong now I'm blaming you."

It was my turn to laugh, "You would do that anyway."

She didn't argue. Toward the end of the song though, she began acting weird. She kept looking over my shoulder into the crowd for people. Her eyes lit up like she'd found what she was looking for which kind of offset set me. Just as the song was changing, she winked at someone and things happened really fast.

Annabeth took my hand and spun me away from her, causing me to bump into someone. Feeling bad, I caught the person before they could fall and ended up face-to-face with Thalia.

"Sorry," we both said at the same time.

"I don't know what got into Annabeth," I added. "She just spun me away and I crashed into you."

"I know what it is," she declared, looking behind me before pointing that way, "We've been set up."

Tossing a glance over my shoulder, I saw Annabeth and Nico dancing together. They were looking at us and grinning uncontrollably. Only then did I realize what song was playing: Everything by Lifehouse. This had been mine and Thalia's song when we were dating. I guess I know what Silena had been planning.

"Want to dance?" I asked her. "It was our song after all."

I was surprised that she didn't even think about it, "Sure."

Next thing I knew we were shuffling around on the dance floor. I had my eyes targeted on my feet to make sure I didn't hurt her. She seemed to have a limp in her step but she wasn't on crutches or anything. She must've been getting tired though.

"Percy," she called, drawing my eyes up to meet her electric blue ones. "It's okay; I'm not going to break if you accidentally step on my feet."

"Uh…yeah," I stuttered, slightly embarrassed, "Sorry."

I had been too busy looking at her feet, it hadn't even completely registered in my mind that she was wearing a dress. It was probably an even rarer sighting than seeing Annabeth in one. The dress was dark blue and went all the way down to her ankles. She was wearing a black, long-sleeve cardigan over it that actually matched pretty well. Matched well? I knew that suit-shopping trip with Silena messed up my mind. What really caught my eye though was the necklace I had given her for Christmas.

"You still wear that necklace?" I asked in disbelief.

She smiled, "Yeah. I really like it. It also helps me with things, come to terms with the past."

"I still wear mine sometimes," I confessed.

"Why?" she asked. "Annabeth made it sound like you were just trying to forget everything."

"I wore it because I've missed you," I told her. Then I thought it sounded flirty, so I immediately started rambling, "N-not like that. I mean like…like I've missed seeing you. I'm kind of glad we aren't together anymore because it was hurting both of us, but I've still missed having you around."

Her chuckling cut off my rant, "You really need to relax. I can tell it's weird for you to be around me because of the accident, but like Annabeth has told you a million times, no one blames you."

"You've been avoiding me because of it," I pointed out, "And Nico still hates me."

"I've only been avoiding you to gather my life together so it wouldn't be a death match when we saw each other again," she rolled her eyes. "And Nico doesn't really hate you. He's just being protective of me."

"You sound happy with him."

She couldn't help but grin, "We aren't technically together, but we sure do act like it most of the time."

"Do you plan on finally going out with him?"

"Let's just say if he tries to kiss me at the end of the night, I won't object."

I actually smiled at that. She seemed content with her life now. Everyone had been telling me she was fine, but all I really needed was to hear it from her. It took most of my guilt away.

Considering our song was a good six or so minutes long, we continued shuffling around before speaking again. I hadn't even noticed that we had ended up dancing like I had with Annabeth earlier; her arms around my neck and my hands on her waist.

"This must've been what Silena was plotting," I mumbled.

She nodded, "That's a pretty safe bet. How did the guys shopping trip with her go? Nico just said it was a disaster."

"That pretty much sums it up," I agreed. "How did the girls' one go? I heard she originally planned on making you wear a pink dress."

"She did. I got out of it though."

"How?" my voice must've been one of utter shock. Silena rarely lets people get out of her plans. The only reason she didn't make Nico wear a pink suit was because she thought it just didn't complement him well.

"She understood that it was a little too…revealing."

My eyebrow arched, "She actually cared that you didn't want to dress like a slut?"

She bit her lip, "Not that type of revealing. It just wasn't as long as this one though and we couldn't find a cardigan to go with it…" She realized I still wasn't catching on so she snapped, "It didn't hide my scars."

"Oh. Are they really that bad?"

She nodded, "Some of them are. I just didn't want to deal with everyone looking at me like I had five heads." I went to apologize, but she cut me off, "And if you dare say sorry, _you'll_ be sporting some nice scars."

I laughed, "Does this mean we're cool now? I don't have to keep my distance anymore?"

She leaned against me in a hug, "Do I even need to answer that?"

We finished out the song and then she went off to find Nico, her limp only slightly noticeable. Annabeth came up to me, trying to contain her laughter.

"Did all go well?" she choked out.

"Yeah," I assured her. "I'm still going to get my revenge on you guys for setting us up like that though."

"Good luck with that," she told me, doubting my capability of revenge.

The rest of the night was a blast but mostly uneventful. At the end of the night, I was helping Annabeth look for her purse I misplaced. Don't look down on me for losing it; I warned her that she shouldn't have trusted me to put it down somewhere in the first place. I was glad we stayed back though, because I spotted Nico and Thalia in the exit. Thalia was using her forearm crutches again; she must've brought them just in case.

They seemed to be having a pretty deep conversation when Thalia leaned in and kissed him. I was surprised she did it so abruptly but at the same time I was truly happy for them. When they broke apart, I clapped just to bug them. Next thing I knew, Annabeth was next to me and clapping for them to. Thalia laughed, Nico flipped us off.

A few minutes later, we were in my car (Annabeth had found her purse, I didn't know where though).

"Answer me honestly," she told me, "Do you end up having fun tonight?"

"Honestly," I responded, "It was one of the best nights I've had in the while."

It was true. I was finally on good terms with Thalia. I don't think Nico hated me anymore. And I got to spend plenty of time with the girl who I think had been my crush since I was little. For the first time in a while, things actually seemed okay.

**And that is the last chapter of this story, but don't worry because next up is the epilogue! WOOO! I actually like how this chapter kind of brought everything together. It was refreshing to write something less dramatic. And the song that was mentioned, Everything by Lifehouse, is amazing and you should all listen to it if you never have.**

**I hope you all loved the chapter and please review :)**


	26. Epilogue

**ATTENTION ALL READERS, THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE IS IMPORTANT: Okay, this note may be a bit long but I wanted to get it out of the way so I don't give you one at the end of this epilogue. So this is going to wrap up this story, which I personally am sad about. I need you all to do me a favor though. Wednesday, this story will be updated with an author's note. In it I'm going to put some summaries of stories I was thinking about writing. I would greatly appreciate if you look at the choices and review saying which one you would like me to write. This really does influence my choice. I did this with my last story Waves of Wisdom with Friends Before Love as one of the choices. It was the last story I planned on writing, but it got voted most so I went for it. And I know I have had fun writing this story. So now that this obnoxiously long note is over, TO THE EPILOGUE! **

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Oceangirl511****, ****Fidelis Et Espoire A Noel Dy****, ****lilslybud****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****LightningstormZero****, ****kldsn123****, ****awsomekelly****, ****Seaweed Brain24256****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****bubbly chick****, ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****the ghost king****, ****Firehawk97****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****SnakepawxRosepaw4eva****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Julianna54321****, ****Sunneshine123****, ****catroyal210****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****MelRose520****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****candy0304****, ****jahfreenalam****, ****Coqui's Song**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Nico POV**

"Finally, the school year is over!" Thalia cheered, getting several whoops and hollers in response.

We had all just finished our last day of school earlier and now we were spending the night celebrating. In the past few weeks we had managed to get Thalia's pool ready for use so we decided to go there. We also lit a huge bonfire in an old fire pit she had to burn all of our school papers from the whole year. It was just Luke, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, and me.

"Thank god," Percy replied, throwing a stack of his English papers into the fire.

"Hey guys," Luke called, holding up a paper with a forty-two written on it, "Here's my biology final that I failed." Annabeth rolled her eyes at him, so he defended, "Relax, Annabeth. I still passed the course. Besides everyone but you is like entitled to fail at least one midterm or final throughout high school."

"I didn't get that privilege this year," Thalia groaned. "I had to get at least a B on all of them or else they were going to make me repeat the year because I missed so many days. I can't even tell you how many nights I passed out studying." I couldn't help but grin at that. One of the nights she had fallen asleep, I was actually there helping her study.

I went over and slung an arm around her shoulders, loving the fact that I could do that now, "Then it sounds like you have some old study guides to burn."

"Amen," she told me and threw in a pile of papers thicker than my math textbook.

"Was that all one study guide?" Percy asked with wide eyes.

Annabeth was actually the one to reply as she threw in an equally large stack, "Yep. Our history teacher was nuts."

I picked up one of my old papers to throw in the fire, but started laughing instead, "Percy, come see this."

He jogged over and looked at the paper. The two of us both bursted into hysterical laughter. At the very beginning of the school year, Percy and I had gotten bored in one of our classes so we both started drawing caricatures of our friends. They were funny though some of them were somewhat offensive.

Thalia yanked the paper from our grasp, "What's so funny?"

"You might not want to look at that," Percy warned.

Of course she took this as a challenge and looked anyway.

"Is that supposed to be me?" she interrogated, pointing to a figure on the paper. Percy and I nodded. "My freckles make me look diseased!"

That just sent us into another fit of laughter. Percy and I had become friends again after prom. If we hadn't I probably would've just thrown that paper in the fire to avoid an awkward situation.

"Oh come on guys," Luke said, now looking at our doodles as well, "My scar does not take up half of my face."

"And why is my head so big?" Annabeth asked.

"It was the only way we could think to stress your intelligence humorously," Percy shrugged.

Annabeth tried to throw the paper in the fire, but I snagged it and stuffed it in the back pocket of my swim trunks. Percy, Luke, and I were all in our swim trunks but were still wearing our t-shirts since we weren't going in the pool at the moment. Annabeth had a simple t-shirt and shorts over her bathing suit while Thalia was wearing sweats and a sweatshirt over hers. I didn't understand how she was dying from the heat, but I guess she had become pretty immune to it over the years.

Most of the other papers weren't funny. Except one of Luke's English papers where he spelled his name wrong. He tried to use the 'I was in a hurry' excuse, yet that didn't keep us from laughing.

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth asked suddenly.

We all glanced around but didn't see him. Then out of nowhere he came running toward Annabeth, picked her up, and jumped into the pool with her. He had gotten rid of his t-shirt, but she was still fully clothed. The rest of us watched in shock that he actually had the guts to do that.

"Percy!" she shrieked furiously. "What was that for?"

"I told you I would get revenge for you setting me and Thalia up at prom," he explained, swimming away from his now severely pissed off girlfriend, "You know I hate being set up."

Thalia chuckled next to me, "He has a lot of balls to have done that."

"I would do that to you," I told her, "But I can't swim away as fast as Percy can so you would kill me."

She shrugged, "Probably."

"I'm going in," Luke announced as he cast his shirt aside and jumped in.

I wanted to go in, yet Thalia didn't seem like she was going to and I didn't want to just ditch her. Glancing at her, I saw that she was watching the pool like she wanted to go in but something was keeping her from doing so.

She got my glance though, "You can go in. I think I'm just going to sit on the side and stick my feet in."

"Nah, it's fine. I'll-"

"Go," she ordered, pointing to the water.

I took off my t-shirt and laughed as I remembered something.

"What's so funny now?" she asked.

"Just something you said when you were heavily medicated."

"Oh geez," she paled a little, "What was it?"

I turned and pointed toward my abs, "You said abs were hot. Do you still stand by that statement?"

She sighed, "Just get in the pool, di Angelo." When it comes to Thalia's language, that just meant 'yes, but I don't want to admit it'.

With that, we all spent the next hour or so chasing each other in or around the pool to dunk each other or push each other in. Thalia stayed out of it, but she watched with much amusement. We had gone for a while and Percy hadn't been thrown in or dunked yet so when he was out of the pool, we had Annabeth go up and kiss him. While he was distracted Luke and I teamed up on him and threw him in. Annabeth dove in after him and dunked him just as he was resurfacing. Teamwork actually does help.

We all finally got out when the mosquitoes began to eat us. Everything was so different from how it had been all year. Luke was single yet seemed totally okay with it. Even though he was the only single one here he was having a blast. Percy was finally over the accident and was having fun for once. And it was with Annabeth, so it caused a lot less hurt in general. Annabeth had been kind ticked off until she ditched her sopping wet t-shirt and shorts and we threw Percy in. She was happy though and she was with the guy she had been crushing on for years.

And I had gotten the girl I had been crushing on for years. Even though she was totally happy just sitting on the edge of the pool and watching us all be stupid, it was still bothering me that she hadn't gone in when I knew she had put on a bathing suit underneath her sweats; I could see the tie of it resting on the back of her neck.

"Hey," Annabeth said, jogging up to me, "I'm going to take Percy inside before he goes in the pool again. If he goes back in, only god knows how long it'll take us to get him back out."

"And I should head out too," Luke spoke up, "My mom's probably worrying about me." I had heard about his issues with his mom, but he claimed they were getting better; she was just really protective of him now.

"Yeah sure," I told them, "Go ahead."

"Let's go, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth took Percy's hand and began walking to the house with him.

They parted their own ways and I walked over to Thalia. I sat beside her on the edge of the pool and stuck my feet in. She was staring off into nothing, clearly thinking a bit.

I nudged her shoulder with my own, "Hey, so did you have fun?"

She snapped out of her trance and then smiled, "Yeah, I did. It was nice to all just hang out without tension. Prom was like that, but there were so many other people so it wasn't the same."

I nodded, "Why didn't you go in the pool though?"

With a sigh she answered, "I thought about it. I kind of wanted to. I couldn't though."

"Why not?"

She rolled her eyes, "What does sweatpants and a sweatshirt hide that a bikini doesn't?"

"Your hot body," I joked and she punched my shoulder, "Ow. Relax, I was complementing you. I'm out of guesses though."

She threw her hands up in exasperation, "My scars! Why does everyone forget about that?"

I shrugged, "Maybe because no one cares that you have them. Are they really that bad?"

As a reply, I only got the slight nod of her head. This was getting me nowhere. Taking her arm closest to me, I started slowly pushing the sleeve up her arm.

Feeling her tense, I assured her, "I already saw the scars on your arm when you were in the hospital. I just want to see those again."

She still looked a lot less than thrilled though. I bunched the sleeve up to a little past her elbow and ran my fingers over some of the scars. There was a bunch in stark contrast with her pale skin. Most of the bruises were gone, yet there were still plenty of other marks to make up for it. I circled my thumb around what appeared to be a faded burn just below her elbow.

I reached for her opposite arm, but she stopped me, "Can you just look away for a second?"

Not sure where this was going, I chose to look away anyway. I heard some rustling and then she told me it was okay to look again. Nothing could've prepared me for what I saw though. She had tossed aside her sweats so she was only in a black bikini. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the sight of all her scars.

She was purposely not looking at them or me, "Surprising?"

When I finally got my vocal chords to work again, I choked out, "Yeah."

Almost every single part of her body had some sort of burn or scar on it. I had no idea how she had been able to hide all of these for so long. I found out her mom used to beat her, so it was a miracle to me how very few people knew about these for years. I almost wanted to start cursing the deceased woman, but I knew she saved Thalia in the end. To me, that almost made up for it all.

"You're staring," she deadpanned.

I didn't respond to that. Instead I got up and offered her my hand, "Come on."

With a raised eyebrow she took my hand and I hauled her up. I led her to the steps that went into the pool. She still had a limp in her step, but she almost never used her crutches anymore. I sat down on the second step so my back was against the side wall and I was submerged to my waist. I gestured for Thalia to sit on my lap. She complied and her legs were on top of mine so they were just above the surface.

"Do you even know how you got all of these?" I asked in disbelief as I gently traced the ones on her arms and legs.

She nodded, "Every single one."

"Really?" My finger ran down a thick scar on her thigh, "Do you know where you got this one?"

"It's from one of my many surgeries," she supplied without missing a beat.

I traced one that was just over her left breast, and I thought she would instantly begin calling me a perv, but I guess she knew my intention wasn't to try and feel her up, "What about this?"

"A thrown beer bottle from one of my mom's boyfriends."

There was pretty big burn on the back of her right shoulder, "This one?"

"My mom hit me with a hot frying pan." Almost every time she named her injuries, I had to suppress a flinch.

We kept going like that for a while and in some sick way, I enjoyed it. I felt like she trusted me enough to tell me where she got all of these which made me feel important to her. I also figured she had to be healing well if she was willing to tell me the origin of each of them.

"How on earth did you deal with all of this?" I finally asked.

She looked me dead in the eye, "I had plenty of good reasons to stay."

"Good to know," I kissed her on the lips and I heard her breath catch. We'd been dating for weeks and I still couldn't get tired of that. We broke apart and I locked my dark eyes on hers. "Want to go in the pool now?"

"I don't think so. I'm getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and-" she was cut off by me tossing her into the pool. When she resurfaced her eyes looked like they were shooting sparks of fury. There was a hint of playfulness to her voice though that told me she wasn't actually mad. "Screw you di Angelo!"

With a smile plastered on my face I began to swim away from the very angry person chasing me that I could now call my girlfriend.

**}{}{}{**_**Annabeth POV**_**}{}{}{**

"Let's go, Seaweed Brain," I said as I took Percy's hand and half-dragged him to the house.

"Are you really in that much of a hurry to get me away from the pool?" he joked.

"Pretty much."

The two of us went inside and changed into dry clothes before plopping down on the couch in the living room. We sat there quietly while I read a book on Greek architecture and Percy had his arm around me. He kept himself amused by playing with my long hair that was still wet from swimming. It was a nice comfortable silence until Percy snatched my book out of my hands.

"Hey," I protested, turning to face him.

"Watching you read got boring," he stated as if that were the most obvious thing ever. Maybe it was, but he could've just asked me to stop reading. "Can I ask you something?"

Not sure where he was going with this, I stuttered, "Um…sure."

"You said that you have had a crush on me for five years," he said and I nodded for confirmation, "How did you deal with that for so long? Especially since I was dating your best friend for a year."

I couldn't help but laugh a little, "It certainly wasn't easy. I had Nico in a very similar situation though which helped. And I just refused to give up on you. Sometimes I thought that I was just being stupid thinking one day you would just wake up and choose me."

"Now that we are dating," he pointed out, "Do you think it was worth it?"

As an answer I lightly placed my lips on his. He seemed a bit surprised at first, yet he complied most happily.

"I'll take that as a yes," he told me.

And with that I continued kissing the dorky, clueless idiot I could finally call my boyfriend.


	27. IMPORTANT

**Author's Note :)**

**Okay, so here are the story ideas I have in mind. Some of them are a lot more interesting than they sound, but tell me what ones you like best and majority picks the next story I write. I would've just put this as a poll on my profile but my fanfiction account is choosing to be difficult and not let me do that so if you could leave a review or PM me with what story you think I should do, please feel free to do so. If I get a clear enough vote by the weekend, I'll try to post the first chapter.**

**STRUCK:**

Annabeth Chase definitely did not plan on spending her summer traveling around the country with a bunch of teenage criminals. Then again, she had never planned on becoming one either. Percabeth, AH/AU

**Searching:**

After the war, the gods began to fear that demigods could overthrow them. In an attempt to prevent this from happening they forced the greatest heroes of the age into the one place able to frighten any of them: the labyrinth.

**(Yes I know the labyrinth was destroyed. In this story it is 'new and improved'.)**

**Hitting Home:**

Thalia and Nico are killed years after the war, leaving their two kids in the care of Percy and Annabeth. Unfortunately, they have to try and raise these scarred kids when they can't stop fighting and secrets are ripping them apart.

**Falling Leaves:**

All Annabeth wanted was to play football for her school team. She didn't want all the torture that came as a package deal with being the only girl on the team. But she ended up with way more than what she bargained for. Percabeth, AU/AH

**(Even though not all of the summaries said it, all of these stories have Percabeth as a main ship but other ones will most certainly be there as well. Because we all know how much I love a good shipping war.)**

**AND THERE WILL BE NO SEQUEL TO THIS STORY. As much as I will miss this story, I can't even think of a possible sequel.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed on the epilogue: ****ReadrOfBooks****, ****lilslybud****, ****Seaweed Brain24256****, ****candy0304****, ****nicoluvsme****, ****storyteller1425****, ****ApollosFavoriteDaughter3927****, ****Coqui's Song****, ****ScarletGrcae45****, ****Imakiller54321****, ****another epiphany****, ****Damon-salvatore-lover15****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****Skylar. Daughter of Hades****, ****Fidelis Et Espoire A Noel Dy****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****DobbyWeasley****, ****the ghost king****, ****musiclover99****, ****kldsn123****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****SeaweedBrain113097****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****Firehawk97****, ****bubbly chick****, ****thalico**

**I would also like to thank everyone who reviewed throughout all chapters and those of you who reviewed every chapter, I especially appreciate it. But I would also like to thank those who favorite me as an author and this story. Even if you never reviewed or added this to your favorites but you read this story, I still greatly appreciate it.**

**I hope to see you all on the next story you pick, keep an eye out for one of these.**


	28. So

So…

I know of you are probably thinking 'ugh, not another author's note', but I thought you might want to hear this.

By most popular demand, STRUCK has been chosen as my next story. However, I noticed you all seemed to like a lot of then other ideas as well, so if I get into a really good groove with STRUCK, I might try writing one of the other stories at the same time. I know I liked a lot of the other ideas too, so I want to try writing them too. If I do decide to write another one of them story, I'll put it in an author's note in STRUCK. By the way, I posted STRUCK earlier, so it should show up sometime today.

Now this is my final goodbye from this story.


End file.
